Device Drivers
Before beginning with the XP installation, check that you have all of the necessary XP device drivers
for your system. Windows XP is provided with a plethora of device drivers, but you will most likely find
that your "pro" soundcard and midi interface will not be catered for on the XP installation disc.
Download any missing drivers for your system from the relevant manufacturers website on the internet.
If you cannot find an XP driver for a particular device, then generally speaking a Windows 2000 driver
should work (9 times out of 10). If you cannot find a particular driver, then there is little point in
installing XP and you'll need to stick to Windows 98/ME, for the time being at least.
Clean Install Recommended
A clean installation of any Windows operating system from fresh, is nearly always the preferred option.
There is no need to use FDISK when installing XP, as the partitioning and formatting can be handled
during the installation.
If you can't boot from CD to install XP, then you can download a utility from Microsoft that will allow
you to create XP boot discs. Note that there is a different utility for the Home edition and the
Professional edition.
ACPI or "Standard PC"
ACPI works extremely well with Windows XP, and has been significantly improved upon over Windows
2000.
Therefore, it is recommended that you first try installing Windows XP with the default option, which is
as an ACPI computer.
The only time that the "Standard PC" mode can be recommended with XP, is when you are
experiencing audio card or other problems (possibly relating to IRQ sharing/stacking), and only when
you have exhausted all other possible causes.
If you have one of the more modern motherboards that has APIC capabilities, then it is definitely
recommended that you install Windows XP as an ACPI computer.
In fact, installing Windows XP as a "Standard PC" on an APIC compatible computer will probably result
in reduced performance and a reduction with overall reliability.
The number of available interrupts is increased from 15 (0 to 15 with irq2 reserved) to 24 or more with
an APIC system, when using XP and ACPI.
Indeed, some IOAPIC's have 64 interrupts, and some motherboards have more than one APIC,
potentially giving hundreds of IRQ's.
You should find that there is absolutely no IRQ sharing whatsoever when using an APIC/XP/ACPI
installation.
If you have an older motherboard without APIC, then it may be better to install as "Standard PC".
However, the bottom line is that if you have a working system with ACPI, then leave it alone. If it isn't
broken, then don't fix it.
To find out if your motherboard has APIC, then please refer to your motherboard manual and/or check
in the BIOS. If you want to use APIC, then make sure it is enabled in your BIOS.
When installing XP as an ACPI PC on an APIC motherboard, it doesn't matter what the "Plug and
Play OS" setting is in your BIOS. XP will override this anyway. Microsoft actually recommend setting
this to "No" regardless.
If you do decide to install as a "Standard PC", then follow the steps below.
Firstly, the entry Plug and Play OS in your motherboard's BIOS should be set to 'NO'. Click here to find
out why.
During installation of the XP operating system, you will see a screen displaying the message - "Press
F6 if you need to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver". At this point, press the F5 key (this won't be
supplied as an option on the screen and the installation won't wait, so you'll need to babysit the
installation process and hit the key at the right moment). A few seconds after pressing F5, you will be
presented with an option to select either "Standard PC" or "Other (ACPI) PC".
At this point, select "Standard PC".
If you have already installed XP with ACPI, then you can change to "Standard PC" in the device
manager afterwards. However, this method doesn't appear to be as effective as disabling it during the
install. To do this, Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager.
Expand the Computer at the top of the list and right click the ACPI Computer > Drivers > Update
Drivers > Select List > Standard PC. Note that when you reboot your PC, you will need to re-install all
of your device drivers again.
Further reading here here
How Much Disc Space?
When configuring your system disc, bear in mind that XP uses up somewhere in the region of 1.5 2GB of installation space. This is enormous when compared to the 200MB (approx.) required by
Windows98SE (when using windows managed dynamic swap file). However, there are a number of
ways of reducing the amount of space required by XP after installation. More of this later.
Between 3GB and 4GB is the recommended minimum size of disc/partition space required for the XP
installation and for any further audio applications. Obviously, if you plan to install any large files on the
system disc (Steinberg's The Grand - 1,2GB), then you will need to consider this also. Incidentally,
"The Grand" soundfiles will quite happily sit on your audio disc with no problems.
A useful tip when configuring your audio disc, is to split this into two partitions. Set up a smaller "audio
scratch" partition - say 6GB of a 30GB hard disc. This partition will be used for the songs that you are
currently working on. The benefit of a smaller partition is obviously quicker defragmentation. If you use
the entire 30GB as one partition, then this will take ages to defragment. When you are finished with a
song, transfer the audio files to the non-scratch partition, where disc I/O performance isn't so critical.
Motherboard Chipset Drivers
Motherboard chipset drivers are usually supplied on a CDROM with the motherboard.
However, later versions of these drivers can usually be downloaded from the relevant chipset
manufacturers web site, i.e. Intel or VIA.
It is certainly worth checking the sites above to see if there have been any new versions released, as
problems may have been fixed.
If you have an Intel chipset motherboard, then go to http://www.intel.com and for VIA chipset
motherboards, get the latest "4-IN-1" drivers from http://www.viatech.com.
1 - Processor scheduling should be set to background services and
not Programs.
This is a very important tip and could make a significant difference to how low
you can set your samples per buffer for your soundcard.
A lower samples per buffer setting means lower latency, which is better for vsti's
and ASIO monitoring (if you use it).
Processor scheduling should be set to background services and not Programs.
This has the effect of switching from more frequent and smaller CPU time slices
(applications), to less frequent and longer CPU time slices (background
services). This allows the audio application or driver to "hang on" to the CPU for
longer without interruption.
In addition, the background services setting also reduces the amount of "priority
boost" that foreground window's threads receive.
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings >
Advanced Tab > Background Services
2 - Visual effects should be set to a minimum.
Like all previous Windows operating systems, there are many graphic effects menu animations, dissolving menus and "tip" pop-up windows that all require
additional processing power.
For a professional audio system, these "accompaniments" just use additional
CPU power and can cause audio glitches due to the additional traffic being
generated on the system bus.
There are a number of different ways to reduce the number of graphic effects,
but it seems that the quickest way to turn off any unnecessary Windows XP
animations, is by going to Start > Control Panel, click on Performance and
Maintenance (if not using classic view), click on System, select the Advanced
page and then click on the Settings button in the Performance section.
A window will appear with a Visual Effects page. The default is "Let Windows
choose what's best for my computer", which will mean that most graphic options
will be highlighted (dependant on computer).
Change this to "Adjust for best performance" and this will disable all of the
"highlighted" options.
When you have done this, the overall GUI look and feel will be more like the
"classic" Windows.
If you want to speed up the graphics, but want to retain some of the look of the
new XP GUI, then after selecting "Adjusting for best performance" - scroll to the
bottom of the list and select "use visual styles on windows and buttons". This will
give you some of the XP "look", without much processor overhead.
3 - Switch Off Desktop Background Image
Switch off the desktop wallpaper as this uses additional graphics memory that
can be used elsewhere. Right Click Desktop > Properties > Desktop Tab >
Background None
4 - Disable Screen Saver
Contrary to many popular audio tuning articles, disabling the screen saver is
really not necessary with an audio PC. A screen saver is only ever activated
once - when the screen saver is activated. Cycles aren't magically taken from
your CPU, while your audio application is running if your screen saver is switched
on. Indeed, I would even say that it is more important to leave the screen saver
switched on, as even modern CRT monitors can develop "burn in". Even
LCD/TFT monitors are susceptible to fatigue. It is probably better to increase the
Wait time to a sensible value, rather than to disable the screensaver altogether.
However, if you do want to turn off the screen saver, do this as follows. Right
Click Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > None
5 - Disable Fast User Switching
There is a completely new function in both the Home and Professional versions
of Windows XP,called "Fast User Switching". While one user is logged on,
another can logon without having to log off the first user. The applications that
the first user started will keep running in the background so that he/she can
continue where they left off - once the second user logs off again. This is a very
clever and potentially useful feature for companies where more than one person
may require access to the PC at the same time, without having to constantly log
on and off for each user. However, this is not really a useful feature for a
dedicated audio system. So, disable this feature by going to Control Panel and
under "User Accounts", select "change the way users log on or off" and then
disabling "fast user switching". Remember to click on Apply Options. Note that
this will not affect the ability to log on as different users. The difference that this
will make is that one user has to log off completely before another logs on. This
will stop additional programs staying resident in memory for multiple users. Note
that this feature can always be turned back on again if required. Windows XP will
automatically disable this feature if there is 64MB or less of RAM.
6 - Switch Off Power Schemes
Open the "Power Options" applet of Control Panel and set Power Schemes to
"Always On, Turn Off Monitor to "Never" and Turn Off Discs to "Never". If your
BIOS supports it, also consider deactivating power management in the BIOS too
7 - Switch Off Hibernation
Windows XP by default creates a file called hiberfil.sys, to store the contents of
RAM in the event of the computer automatically going into "hibernate" mode. The
size of this file will be determined by the amount of RAM you have installed in
your system. If you have 512MB RAM, then a file of 512MB will be created. If you
have 1GB of memory, then a 1GB hibernation file will be created. This is not
required for an audio PC, regardless of whether or not ACPI is activated or not,
so in the Power Options applet in the Control Panel, click on the Hibernate page
and untick the "Enable Hibernation" box. This will immediately free up this space
on your disc
8 - Activate DMA on Hard Discs/CD ROMS
By default, slave drives on ATAPI channels are often set to PIO mode, even
when the attached device is capable of much more efficient UltraATA (DMA)
mode data transfers. This can hurt the performance of the affected devices. Also,
DMA mode data transfer, places less overhead on the CPU than PIO mode.
Open Device Manager and expand the entry labeled - "IDE ATA/ATAPI
Controllers". Right click each IDE channel entry and select the Advanced
Settings Page. Check that the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for all
channels.
9 - Disable System Sounds
This is a very important tip. If system sounds is left switched on, then it is
possible that this could interfere with your sound card and/or sample frequency
settings. Some XP media sounds have been sampled at 20khz(to conserve disc
space?) and if these are triggered during playback or recording in your
sequencer, then the audio may slow down and adjust to the lower sampling
frequency. There are other things that can go wrong with system sounds, so the
best bet is just to disable them. Select Control Panel and then the "Sounds and
Audio Devices" applet. Click on the Sounds tab and change the sound scheme to
"No Sounds". When asked to save current theme, just say no, unless you want to
recall it later.
10 - Do Not Map Through Soundcard
Applications may still try to play sounds through your "pro" soundcard, so it is
recommended that you disable this. Go to Control Panel > Sounds and Audio
Devices > Hardware Tab > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properties >
Audio Devices > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properties, and check
the "Do not map through this device" checkbox.
11 - Disable System Restore
This is similar to the same feature that first appeared in Windows ME, although it
has been enhanced slightly in XP to provide more specific restore points, i.e.
specific drivers rollback. Basically, it lets you rollback XP to a previous state if
there is a system problem, i.e. if you have installed a bad soundcard driver or
software update and your system doesn't work properly. This function requires
continual monitoring of hard disc activity, and runs (by default) automatically in
the background. In many respects, this is probably a useful function to have
turned on, although it does use a small amount of added CPU and it creates
additional disc I/O. If your system is working as you like it with it turned on, then
perhaps you may wish to leave it turned on. If you do decide to leave it on, then it
may be worth checking that the frequency of the checkpoint is set to 24 hours (as
shown below), and not every two minutes like some people have experienced.
Another option would be to leave it turned on for your system disc and switch it
off completely on your audio disc(s), as there should be no drivers or programs
on your audio disc(s) to be restored. Set the checkpoint to be once per day by
setting the registry key below to decimal value 86400 (number of seconds in a
day). Start > Run > regedit
12 - Disable Automatic Updates
This is where XP will automatically check on the internet for Microsoft updates or
service packs for XP. This is a function that I would consider to be better as a
manual process. Switch off Automatic Updates by going to Control Panel,
System, Automatic Updates and ticking the box labelled "Turn off automatic
updating. I want to update my computer manually.".
13 - Startup and Recovery Options
If you're computer crashes, and you get the "blue screen of death", then you
really could do with seeing and noting down the hexadecimal numbers on the
screen before XP reboots. These numbers are useful for diagnostic purposes,
Right click My Computer and click on Properties > Advanced > Start Up &
Recovery Settings and uncheck "Automatically Restart".
14 - Disable Error Reporting
Whenever operating system or program errors occur, Windows XP generates a
file containing the errors and offers to send this to Microsoft so that they can
"help improve future products". If you don't have an internet connection or if you
don't want this functionality, then you can disable it as shown below. Start >
Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced TAB > Error Reporting > Click
the Disable Error Reporting box (Tick the "But Notify Me When Critical Errors
Occur" if you prefer)
15 - Disable Remote Assistance
Using an internet connection, anyone else running XP can chat with you, view
your screen, and with your permission, use your computer. If you don't need this
feature, then turn it off as described below. Start > Settings > Control Panel >
System > Remote > Untick "Allow Remote Assistance Invitations to be sent from
this computer"
16 - Fix Swap File (Virtual Memory)
This is another tip from previous Windows operating systems, that is still relevant
in XP. It is slightly better to have a fixed swap file, rather than to let Windows
manage the file dynamically. It is also better to set this up just after installation as
the file will be near the start of the disc and will be in one contiguous block. If the
installation process hasn't already done so, set the Virtual Memory to be a fixed
sized for both the minimum and the maximum values. To do this, select the
Advanced tab of the Systems applet and then select the Performance settings
button. Then select the Advanced page. In here it is possible to customise the
Virtual Memory. For custom size, this is often recommended to be 1.5 to 2 times
the amount of your total RAM for both initial and maximum size. Set this to a
fixed minimum and maximum value according to your existing RAM. Of course, if
you have >512 or >768 MB of RAM, then you could consider disabling virtual
memory completely, although I would suggest that you experiment to find out
what is best for you. The XP swap file is called pagefile.sys. By default, this will
be on your C: drive in the root directory. If you can't see this file in explorer, then
this will probably be because the "Hide Protected Operating System Files" option
is active in the folder options. To disable this option and make the pagefile.sys
visible, start explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View > untick "Hide Protected
Operating System Files". Finally, click Yes when asked "Are you sure you want
to display these files". If you want to clear your swap file on shutdown, then do
the following: 1. Start -> Run -> "secpol.msc" 2. Go to "Local Policies" ->
"Security Options" 3. Double click on "Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile"
and enable it.
17 - Speed Up Menus
You can use this tip to speed up the Start Menu in Windows XP. You can
customize the speed of the Start Menu by editing a Registry Key. Click Start, and
then click Run. Type Regedit in the box, and then click OK. Expand the menu in
the left panel and select the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
folder. Scroll down in the right panel and double click on the MenuShowDelay
file. In the Value Data box, change to default value for the menu speed from 400
to a lesser number, such as 1. Click OK.
21 - Disable Hide Inactive Icons
This isn't really a performance tip - more of an irritation. I prefer to manage my
own desktop icons. Disable as shown below. Start > Settings > Taskbar and
Start Menu > Taskbar TAB > Uncheck "Hide Inactive Icons"
22 - Disable Automatic Desktop Cleanup Wizard
Every 60 days, this will run and display a list of icons that have not been used for
60 days or more. It will give you the option to remove those icons that you don't
require. If you don't require this functionality, then disable it as shown below.
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Desktop > Customise Desktop >
Untick "Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days"
23 - Disable NTFS Last Access Time Logging (NTFS File Systems
Only)
With NTFS volumes, Windows XP updates the last access timestamp every time
it accesses the hard drive. This can cause a significant decrease in performance.
This can easily be disabled as shown below. Start > Run > regedit >
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CURRENTCONTROLSET > CONTROL
> FILESYSTEM Add a new DWORD value - "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"
(without quotes) and set the value to 1. Then reboot to make changes effective.
24 - Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips
More of an irritation than a performance tip. Click Start , click Run , type regedit ,
and then press ENTER. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced Right-click the right pane, create a new
DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips . Double-click this new
entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0 . Quit Registry Editor. Log off
Windows, and then log back on.
25 - Disable CDROM Autoplay
One of the very important (and well documented) tweaks in Windows 98SE, was
to disable CDROM autoplay (auto insert notification). Disabling CDROM autoplay
no longer offers a significant performance benefit in Windows XP, and therefore
you do not need to disable it. Just don't insert a CD during a crucial recording.
However, if you really want to disable it then here a few different methods.
Method 1 Start > Run > Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom Set
autorun to 0. Method 2 Open My Computer Right Click on each CDROM and
choose Properties Click on the Auto Play tab In the drop down box you can
choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box Method 3 Go to
Start->Run->gpedit.msc Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System
Double click Turn off Autoplay Enable it.
26 - Disable Disc Indexing Service
Text below taken from XP help. Indexing Service is a service that extracts the
information from a set of documents and organizes it in a way that makes it quick
and easy to access that information through the Windows XP Search function,
the Indexing Service query form, or a Web browser. This information can include
text from within a document, (its contents), and the characteristics and
parameters of the document, (its properties), such as the author's name. Once
the index is created, you can search, or query the index for documents that
contain key words, phrases, or properties. For example, you can query all
documents containing the word "product" or you can query for all Microsoft Office
documents written by a specific author. Indexing Service returns a list of all
documents that meet your search criteria. For information on the different ways
to create a query, see Using the Indexing Service query language. Indexing
Service uses a document filter to read through a document and extract text and
properties to pass to the indexer. This process is called indexing. Indexing
Service automatically stores all the index information in the System or the Web
catalogs. Indexing Service can index the following types of documents in several
languages: HTML Text Microsoft Office 95 and later Internet mail and news Any
other document for which a document filter is available Indexing Service is
designed to run continuously and requires little maintenance. After it is set up, all
operations are automatic, including index creation, index updating, and crash
recovery if there is a power failure. Text below taken from
http://windowsassistance.tripod.com/winxp/search/indexing-service.htm The
indexing of files is done whenever the computer is idle. When Windows XP is
installed the Indexing Service is setup and two catalogs are created: System and
Web. The Web catalog is created if IIS is installed. The problem is what
directories are included in the System catalog. When the System catalog is
created all permanent storage devices are included. This means if you have 5
partitions then the system catalog will have C:\, D:\, E:\, F:\, an G:\ directories.
This could involve a lot of wasted indexing. Therefore you should fine turn the
System catalog to better fit your environment. The Actual Steps To Adjust The
Indexing Service note: To make any changes to the Indexing Service you must
be using an account with Administrator rights. You can use the Indexing Service
from any account. We found that the easiest way to open indexing service is from
Search->Preferences->Add/Remove Index Service->Change Indexing Service
Settings. When the Indexing Service opens you will see one or two catalogs. We
will be working with the System catalog only. Double-click the System catalog.
Double-click Directories. We now have a list of directories that are either included
or excluded from indexing. You can delete existing directories or change their
properties. Basically you can include or exclude the directory from indexing. You
can also add a directory. Adding and modifying a directory use the same form.
To add a directory go to Action menu -> New -> Directory. For each directory that
you include or exclude, all of its subdirectories are also included or excluded. To
delete a directory: Select the directory and delete. To modify a directory listing
double-click the directory. That's really all you need to know to use the Indexing
Service. At a minimum you can leave it as it is and search away. Enabling NTFS
Partitions For Indexing If you are unable to index a NTFS partition go to the
properties page for the partition by opening Windows Explorer, right-clicking the
partition, select properties and check Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for
fast searching. Further reading : Indexing Service in XP Help
Removel of unneeded items
One of the features that XP doesn't offer that Windows 98SE did, is the ability to customise the
installation process by selecting/removing only the components that you require (Accessories, System
Tools, Multimedia, etc.).
Windows XP doesn't offer you this flexibility during the installation process, and so any Windows XP
components that are not required will need to be removed after the installation has completed.
You won't gain any system performance by removing unused components, although you will steal
back some disc space and "trim down" your XP environment by removing programs that you just don't
use.
Normally, to do this you would go to the "Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel and select
"Add/Remove Windows Components". This process scans your system and shows you what you have
installed so that you can deselect/delete the programs that you don't need.
There is a slight problem, in that Windows XP "hides" certain components so that they can't be seen
on the list and subsequently, can't be removed.
However, there is a very simple way to make these reappear so that they can be removed.
Use Notepad to edit the sysoc.inf file in the Windows/Inf folder. Do a search and replace for the word
"hide" (leave match case unticked), replacing hide with nothing. Save the file.
TIP : If you can't see the "inf" folder, then in explorer make sure you click the "Show Hidden Files and
Folders" option. Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View.
Go back to "Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel and select "Add/Remove Windows
Components". Components that couldn't be seen before can now be viewed and removed. You will
notice that Windows Messenger can now be removed, which can be a resource hog.
Reboot after removing components to take effect.
Typical components that can be removed are (there may be others depending on your requirements):





Accesibility Options
Indexing service
Update Root Certificates
Windows Automatic Updates
Windows Messenger





Games
Desktop Wallpaper
Explorer (Unless you use the audio PC for surfing of course)
Communications
MSN Explorer
Microsoft Power Toys
Power Toys are additional programs that Microsoft developers work on after a product has been
released
to
manufacturing.
Microsoft has taken great care to ensure that Power Toys operate as they should, but they are not part
of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft.
For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys.
Download the XP versions of Powertools from Microsoft
MSCONFIG
As with other Windows versions, programs can be started automatically by XP. It is worth checking to
see what programs (if any) your XP system is starting by itself on startup, as these may be using
valuable processing power.
To investigate the automatically starting programs, use the XP msconfig tool. The msconfig tool is not
new to XP and first appeared in Windows 98 and then ME.
To run msconfig, click on Start > Run and type in "msconfig" (no quotes) and click OK. Click on the
Startup Tab and uncheck any programs, that you don't want to autostart. Dont' disable anything you're
not sure about.
‫שירותים נוספים לביטול‬
Automatic Updates - disabled
Background Intelligent Transfer Service - disabled)‫(מחשבים ללא רשת‬
Error reporting service - disabled
Fast user switching compatibility - disabled
Help and support - disabled
Human interface device access - disabled
Messenger - disabled
Netmeeting remote desktop - disabled
Print spooler - disabled ‫ במידה ואין מדפסת‬Remote Desktop - disabled
Remote registry - disabled
TCP/IP Net bios helper - disabled