DJing laptop.

[Nano3]

Hello,

Im working on a friends laptop which he uses to Deejay and only to Deejay. What would be the optimal way to set up Windows 7 for ultimate performance? He wont be using the laptop for internet or anything else. I have already used Windows Mobility Center to high performance, dimmed the theme to Windows 7 Basic and am planning on using msconfig to tweak it a bit, But do you guys have any other ideas that may help me?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[PwnFrnzy]

First of all, put the theme back to Aero. With the theme on Basic, you are putting the processor to work on rendering the theme and that processor power will be needed to DJ. With the Aero theme on, you put the load on the GPU which most likely will not be used when DeeJay-ing. Msconfig only changes a few processes (Startup, ect.) and I don't think any changes would be of significance.
All I can say is only have the DJ software installed on it along with the tracks he will be playing, that would keep the machine running at top performance since other programs wouldn't be taking up extra processes.

 

[Nano3]

What about stopping internet services and other programs from loading at the beginning? I plan on fully updating windows then stopping windows update. Any other inputs?

 

[DustSailor]

type "misconfig" into search, under the general tab, click 'diagnostic startup'. This will keep unneeded services (only non-Microsoft) and startup programs from running. You could look online or on sevenforums for tutorials on ways to improve performance in the computer for that extra juice. Chances are, those are a bit extreme with a normal computer so long as it isn't older than 5 years. I would also recommend not installing anything extra (other than drivers, especially audio lol). Upgrading hardware is a good idea, especially the sound card. Pwn knows his stuff, i'd give him a good ear

 

[Wishmaster]

What about stopping internet services and other programs from loading at the beginning? I plan on fully updating windows then stopping windows update. Any other inputs?

You can spend a lot of time disabling services and tweaking things that might save you 1/2- 1 second at boot time.

In the end, all of that tweaking and turning off services really gains you nothing, and in fact can hinder performance more than it helps anything.
The overall performance of Windows may be worse after doing so.


I agree.
Turn Aero back on so the GPU can do the rendering.

And as far as everything else, just install what you need.

Let Windows tweak itself. It will truly work out for the best in the long run.

After a couple days of use, Windows will have tweaked itself to run at top performance, according to what you do the most with it.

 

[Britton30]

I had a buddy who used a desktop to play music too. He was no pro at it however, he was running XP and using WMP to play mp3's. Other than disabling wireless internet I don't think he will gain much advantage. Playing music isn't real resource intensive. You can disable transparent glass windows to help a bit.

 

[Nano3]

awesome, yeah... i've never had any performance issues with my computer. I'm a huge W7 fan I was just concerned for him because he will be dejaying my brothers wedding. I will fully update windows. make sure nothing is running in the system tray!

By the way, He will be using the Serato Itch with a Pioneer Controller DDJ-S1. Just for further info... Thanks for all the replies. I should be all set right?

OH! And is sopping the internet service completely (network card) necessary ?

 

[DustSailor]

You might as well, but you really don't have to, it won't effect it very much. I know xp had a problem of pop-ups for installing updates, and I've heard 7 restarted after auto-installing updates. I would turn automatic updates off, or set it on complete manual while he is DJing just in case. If you do that, then the disabling of the internet isn't necessary unless you are insane about performance. I'm not sure how your computer runs, if it is slow, I would disable a lot. If he is setting up prior to the start of the ceremony and has plenty of time, you should be good. Otherwise I'd disable stuff to get a quick start-up, or as quick as possible. Test it out, make sure there is no stuttering sounds or anything of the sort, and if not, your good to go bro.

Glad we got a chance to help ya out

 

[Barman58]

As has been rightly said already - the best tweaking tool for win7 is win7 itself.

if you wish to learn more about the background processes and what can be disabled take a look at this site which is the best known on the web for this purpose.

For performing any tweaks yourself, forget MSConfig, and download autoruns from Microsoft (it's free), which will show you what realy starts with Windows.

In the XP days, and before, it was possible to replace the startup of windows explorer, (this is the actual windows GUI we see), completely and replace it with another application, this was often used for specialist systems to dedicate the whole system to one task, including DJ programs. This may be still possible with windows 7 but I cannot confirm this. It is possible to stop the explorer process without the system crashing but it would need experimentation.

As for the network question you would be best disabling in BIOS or if this is not possible on the laptop, disable the card in the network and sharing centre, which will prevent the loading of drivers

Hope this helps, but would consider these major changes after the wedding just to be sure

 

[Nano3]

Hey guys!

To Update: I finished setting up a brand new fresh copy of windows 7 on the laptop and brought it over to the Deejays house last night. After installing the Serato program the DJ looked like a kid in a candy store. he was surprised of the difference of how the program ran inside Windows 7 from Vista. He was extremely happy. I let him read this thread and he sends a big thank you!

I also introduced him to the Windows Mobility function. he is now in love with me

 

[Britton30]

Good news Nano3! Congrats on your upcoming wedding.