By Monika.mhz
DJs who use PCs know that sometimes all the other software we use on our laptops gets in the way of what really matters, the Music!
I’m a laptop guru by trade and I get asked all the time by fellow DJs and performers alike, “Monika, how can I make my laptop better suited for DJing?” Here are a few short tricks and tweaks that can speed up your performance and optimize your machine for performance! Most of these have been floating around for a while, but I thought it would be a great idea to go over this again since the question is always on the lips of learning Digital Djs.
WARNING: Perform all these tweaks at your own risk! And remember to backup everything (including your registry) before playing with fire!
Make a new account
Creating a new user account is pretty straight forward in most versions of windows. Navigate to the control panel and open the “user accounts” option in either XP or Vista and create yourself a “DJ” User account. This will help distinguish your DJ rig from the space where you visit DJTechTools.
Create a Hardware Profile
Copy your current hardware profile rename it to “DJ Only” and while you’re running the new profile reduce as many devices as possible, turning off everything from the CD-Rom to the Wireless card. Reduce those DPC latencies. You can check what helps your latency with the DPC Latency Checker. Additionally in the new hardware profile/account you can reduce the amount of services running. Navigate to #run > services.msc and you can eliminate any unnecessary services (like network services). This will help assure that the maximum amount of resources is dedicated to your software. REMEMBER: Hardware profiles are chosen at start-up! So you will have to reboot if you want to switch!
Performance
Be sure set your computer to focus on background services. This may seem counter intuitive, but experience has shown that you will see less audio dropouts and raised MIDI performance in this case.
Eliminate rogue software
Once you are in your newly modified DJ account you can start customizing even further. Run msconfig and eliminate any non-essential processes starting up. The extremely geek literate may want to use Microsoft’s autoruns.exe to take it to the next level running only your DJ software and csrss.exe.
Kiss Explorer.exe Goodbye!
Finally for the ultra hardcore we have the tweak to end all tweaks. Making your chosen software into the new Windows shell for your DJ account! Remember, edit the registry at your own risk, and don’t blame me if your laptop blows up in your face.
- Open the registry by going to START -> Run and then typing “regedit” and clicking “OK”.
- Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot”
- Find the String named Shell and change its value from: “SYS:Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon” to: “USR:Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon”.
This tells Windows to look in the User key for the shell rather than the Machine key. If you don’t set this Windows becomes confused and Windows will see both Traktor/Serato and Explorer as your shell.
- Next, go to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon”. (Be sure you’re logged into your newly made DJ account!!!)
- Either find or create a string named “Shell” with a value containing your Software’s EXE (for example, “C:\program files\Rane\Serato\Serato.exe”). This sets Serato as your username’s shell.
At this point your DJ Software is set up as your shell. In order to continue using Explorer as your file manager you must complete these steps:
- Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer” and create a DWORD with the name DesktopProcess and a value of 1.
- Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced” and, again, create a DWORD with the name DesktopProcess and a value of 1.
And that’s it! Tear up the dancefloor with your new LEAN DJ account!
Since its 2014 is it possible to update this article for Win 7/8/8.1 users. I understand the concept is the same, but it be nice.
hey enrique, if you are using traktor or maschine here is a bit of help…
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/knowledge-base/show/1055/windows-8-tuning-tips-for-audio-processing/
[quote comment=”20182″][quote comment=”20181″]Maybe he is advocating DOS based DJing,
Load C:\Tunes\generic.mp3 -A
Playdeck -A
Load C:\Tunes\generic2.mp3 -B
Setpitch -B -+3%
Playdeck -B
now thats a performance :)[/quote]
But then we’d get folks complaining about DJs just cuing up a batch file to DJ for them! ^_^[/quote]
*cough* ableton *cough*
good article! everythign is great
but i wouldnt touch the shell! too many times i see friends going on websites and copying everything they say to do… and bam, they cant figure out why they get fuck ups =lost threads!
not to sound rude or anything but an article that covers reg edits and the like should be written by someone that works in the industry. has experience in the windows system and/or possibly a real system tester!
other than that great stuff!
yeah you shitface. i made the registry and now i lost my desktop
agreed, it would be nice if there were hardware profiles on windows vista/7
if only a discuss of this for Win7??? anyone
I have problem, i do exatly you write. When i start Windows, then always go to traktor (in both profile), i dont see start menu and nothing just traktor. Please help me.
LP
More advices… enjoy
http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.html
[quote comment=”28103″]I used partition magic to free up 5GB on C: and then used a program called nLite to create a super light-weight install of windows. My final windows installation image was 129MB!! That’s with internet explorer stripped out, windows media player stripped out and EVERYTHING I could possibly take out taken out. Something I doubt is possible from the OS interface but just a matter of ticking boxes with nLite.[/quote]
I’m currently trying to create a streamline version of XP using nLite but it keeps BSOD’ing when i use the CD with the ISO Image to boot from. Does anyone that has tried this know what i might be doing wrong?
Hi Monica,
Thanks for the great article. Do you have any tips for Vista users on creating different software/hardware profiles – either by different profiles in Vista, or by using a hard disk partition?
Thanks again,
Thomas
gosh this thread is getting old and still popular. With good reason. 1 day windows works fine, then suddenly you run into problems. I did try out all the ideas from this article, and I have to agree with some of the comments that the best solution is a 2nd installation of windows on a separate partition. even with separate hardware and user profiles i couldn’t stop my anti virus completely and still the computer is filled with my day-to-day junk. unless you use 1 laptop just for dj’ing 2nd install works a treat.
i also play around with various different setups and stuff in other music apps beside traktor – but do all my playing on 1st partition, leaving 2nd partition for purely my tried and tested performance setup.
I used partition magic to free up 5GB on C: and then used a program called nLite to create a super light-weight install of windows. My final windows installation image was 129MB!! That’s with internet explorer stripped out, windows media player stripped out and EVERYTHING I could possibly take out taken out. Something I doubt is possible from the OS interface but just a matter of ticking boxes with nLite.
nLite is free but for XP only. not that anyone in their right mind would run vista, and as for win7 i haven’t looked yet.
so having finally got the install i want, i thought i’d come back to this post i read 6 months ago and share my experience.
btw, my laptop is over 4 years old (a 1.7ghz centrino with 1gb ram), so getting the best setup was critical for me. I pretty much run traktor without a glitch now.
great article!! i used to have issues with my BCD3000, drop outs, latency, hang-ups… then i ran into http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.html
similar to this article, but the tips arent all the same… the combination of this article and the tips in the link should prove very nice indeed 🙂 although the linked articles’ tips did it for me
What about streamlining your Windows 7 laptop? Could it be done in a similair way as in XP? I’m using my laptop also for some personala stuff, so i would like to have some kind of split between mine personal settings & dj settings…
PS: I ordered one of Ean’s Midi Fighter t-shirts and it arrived yesterday – nice! Thx for the cool blog!
Wowzers that was a long and interesting thread. I find the Mac vs PC discussions funny, I was on pc’s for the last 12 years before switching to my first Mac 11months ago and I can honestly say that the switch has taken my music making to another level – not just having logic 9 to work with but it’s also so quick and problem-free.
Timemachine (free with OSX) backs everything up a treat so when my hard drive packed up when i dropped the mac in April, Apple replaced it for free and i had all my data back on there via Timemachine in about half an hour.
I did read this thread as I want to use my Core 2duo 1.66ghz /2gb ram Samsung laptop with traktor again more – it’s been stuttering and struggling with the Audio 8 DJ soundcard and every time i try to adjust the latency traktor crashes. It’s still a duo core processor, it should in theory work fine!! Hopefully with the above tips which i will implement today it’ll perform much better.
I don’t think PC’s are bad at all, but for music they deffo need more configuration and expertise to run well than macs. And I NEVER got the latency in Ableton *anywhere* near as low on the PC than I did on the macbook, both on the Samsung lappy and on my 3.4ghz desktop.
Thanks everyone!
[quote comment=”20215″]No one here is impressed by what you’ve been doing or how long you’ve been doing it. As you said, you are not a guru either. Obviously. Get off your geeky high horse and watch your tone. I find it hard to believe you won’t frequent this forum, being that it is the best website for digital djing. But, good riddance anyway. Fuckin geek.[/quote]
Can we have a quick show of hands on how many people f***ed their PC / Lappy with this wonderful set of tricks ?
STFU – Hey redneck still taking up the *** from a strap-on? It’s been six months since visiting this site last, I don’t need a website to help me DJ. Have you read DJ’ing for knob’eads it’s about your level, although you might need to get some help with the big words though.
Apologies Ean, the site is cool, but the forum does attract some people that are a pointless waste of space, it seems as if many are not even at drinking age yet! So how do they gig live … I get it they don’t, they are bedroom DJ’s ….LOL I guess it beats playing with the other kind of knob
The “fuckin geek” who incidently has no problems with any of his kit, live or otherwise …
since creating a new dj account and hardware profile, how do i transfer all my itunes setting and playlists over to the new account, if i can??? got all my dj play lists set up to be read in traktor but in my new account, i had to reintsall itunes…
[quote comment=””][…] few weeks ago Monika.mhz wrote an excellent article called “Streamline Your Windows Laptop”, and it inspired me to write something similar for the mac. Windows PCs can really benefit from […][/quote]
thanks for that finde idea
had one strange problem
created new user account then a new hardware profile..
reboot… i have only to choose my new created user account
my old was deleted
lots of important stuff missing for example the saved wlan keys etc
with a beautiful recovery point i get my old user account back,
but now i dont no what this was and what to do…
i´ll try it again, but do you have any ideas?
I am not getting this. I have a Vista-notebook (Acer 3810T-944). Can I do these tweaks with Vista or not? The “guide” says yes but I see users saying “no”. Because otherwise it’s no use in trying.
Damn…I really should read ALL the comments before posting shouldn’t I…sorry for wasting space.
I am not getting this. I have a Vista-notebook (Acer 3810T-944). Can I do these tweaks with Vista or not? The “guide” says yes but I see users saying “no”. Because otherwise it’s no use in trying.
I use the netbook for work too and I really can use a crashed computer. So I want to know before trying. . . . Anyone?
Thanx in Advance!
Damn…I really should read ALL the comments before posting shouldn’t I…sorry for wasting space.
windowsxp.mvps.org/registry.htm
well i guess nobodys there
anyway the taking the harddisc out and putting it in an external drive bay
is a no go for me just tried it
will not attempt to take the hard disc out as id need to dismantle
most of the netbook and prob fcuk it up even more
hope somebody replies
as i was testing my nu kaoss pad 3 ableton live controll vst
http://www.youtube.com/user/chinkial
so i could get ready for an upload this week
id hoped sombody may have read this by now
what a daft clown i am
i totaly screwed myself ha ha
im totaly retarded when it comes to computer geekery like this
reaktor max/msp pd and stuff like that no problem
but internet and normal computer stuff totaly useless
i can easily do a full install of win xp
as its got its own techguys disk partition at startup
id just like to be able to salvage my tunes
reaktor and pure data and ableton stuff id done
[that i should have backed up]
is there anyway i can access these files and copy to an external drive
or am i going to have to manually take the hard disc
out of the netbook
and stick it in my usb external laptop hd holder
then save the files to my other computer that way
a hope not
so if u know what ive done wrong and can help cheers
al.
help
what have i done
tried this
Be sure set your computer to focus on background services. This may seem counter intuitive, but experience has shown that you will see less audio dropouts and raised MIDI performance in this case.
and funny enough it worked on my desktop
then thought ill try it on my netbook
restarted windows arghh blue screen of death
saying something about flushing registry missing thingy then it cuts off
help plz what do i need to flush to get traktor back and all my tunes
it was running great on my netbook anyway
just a basic advent 512 ram 80g harddisc
and could mix four tracks no problem
just got dropouts every now and again
thats why i tried it
al.
Damn…I really should read ALL the comments before posting shouldn’t I…sorry for wasting space.
Great article+comments thanks, I have managed to get my ext. soundcard running with low latency without dropping out at all…it’s no longer a brick!
Just one thing…I find that after disabling services and startup items (through msconfig) on my dj only account, they are still disabled when I use my everyday hardware profile/user accout. Am I doing something wrong? it seems like the dj user account is pointless at the moment.
Any help would be much appreciated,
thanks
Ben
So any one find a way to do this in vista yet?
Hello people.
I have been struggling with my own PC based problems for years. The last straw is something is seriously wrong with my setup. I just noodle around with FLstudio, nothing too hardout but I get speed up slow down itis. No latency issues (I did discover that less was better) running a few FX plugs etc.
Have been scanning boards looking for info. Found a whole bunch. Got sick of the bickering. Just want to get my machine working.
I am going to start from scratch, again. Try out some tweaks see if that helps.
I am soooo sick of service packs and updates. I am tired of random crap.
I want MY MACHINE TO WORK PROPERLY!!!
I live in NZ. am quite open to ideas and suggestions. I am not biased, I don’t have a huge budget and firmly believe that any old crap computer SHOULD be able to do a minimum of basic audio stuff without crapping out.
Feel free to mail me at:
RobbieForrester@yahoo.com
R.
PS. can we please stop bickering! lets make the music!
The reason why setting Windows to prioritise background services improves performance is because protocols such as ASIO are seen as ‘background services’ for the general user – but this is how your PC will be communicating with your soundcard, so it’s quite important for a DJ to have this working properly. There are some more Windows tweaks for making music here:
http://www.podcomplex.com/pc/
[quote=”DJ Mantra”]I’m not sure if this has been addressed in the comments above, but if you are using XP, when you go into your services to start disabling them, if you disable them from the “general tab”, then that will disable them for all hardware profiles, regardless of which hardware profile you are in.
If you want to disable a service for one hardware profile only, then you need to click on the “Log In” tab first, then choose the hardware profile you want to disable the service for. You can find out more information about it below, as well as what those services are and what they do.[/quote]
Awesome information man! I started embarking on this streamlining process but when I saw all the tweaks applying across users and across profiles I scrapped. Also, very cool website you linked. Highly recommended.
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/xpprofiles.htm
Mac are going to have less problem straight up because most thing for macs like the keyboards and monitors are made by apple and will most of the time always work were well with the mac.where as pc have a lot more stuff designed by third party companies which gives you a wider range of products but, doesn’t mean it’s always going to work. I mean it depends on the manufacturer if has driver but, their i have to say a lot more of programs that can help you if you just look for windows. But, make since controls products that work with them it will work more because apple will know about so that really it. i don’t know which is better
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
[quote comment=”20470″]Real digital DJs use Linux. Nerts to your windows and macs. NERTS I SAY.
*duck*[/quote]
Very constructive, how about you write an article on how real dj’s use Linux!
Real digital DJs use Linux. Nerts to your windows and macs. NERTS I SAY.
*duck*
wait i thought native instruments didnt support traktor or maschine?
*For linux systems??
If I use a netbook… will this help with the performance?
whoops sorry for my anonymity^
well Vista doesn’t use hardware profiles, so what’s the easiest way to reduce the devices and services that are running without having to go through the whole process every time i boot from that profile… pretty much just looking for directions to do everything Mon said except in Vista
I found the comments a bit comical in the sense that it was less of a battle wit but more of a battle of google result..
– i personally think calling ones self a “guru” shows significantly less ego than arrogantly flaunting every bit of information ones picked up in a life time of working in computers. &you might know the specs of being a digital dj but maybe a few people here could school you on the hole mentality of it all..
but back on subject – i honestly never thought to make a “dj” user account, or some of the other tweeks & mods, so thanks for the post.
&to add with some good tips for maybe the less PC savvy,
iv came up with to keep my &all my friends & family’s PC’s clean & healthy…
DISC CLEAN UP
start > all programs> system tools > disc clean up
(i check all boxes then hit run)
DISC DEFRAGMENT
start > all programs> system tools > disc defragment
(make sure you defrag the “C: drive” hahah)
WINDOWS UPDATE
start > control panel > Security center > windows update
(make sure your firewall, and anti virus are on)
i just express install all updates.
download/install/&run
REGISTRY FIXER, “CCLEANER”
(ccleaner.com it’s a freeware!)
this checks your registry for errors,
eliminates old, &compressed files.
&basically “cleans” about 50 other aspects (all checkmarkable)
RUN YOUR ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE!
esp. scan for viruses, & spyware.
*If you currently dont have one active buy or download a trial
or even just get a freeware anti-virus ASAP!
Locally if you have Frontier internet you can call and get 3 free serial codes for CA Anti-Virus good for two years (not one id recommend buying but effective and free) so call your internet provider and see if there teamed up with a anti-virus software you might be missing out of some free-payware!
i wouldn’t recommend freeware for something so important but if you can’t get one from your provider and dont have the cash to get one these work: AVAST, or AVG (get via: download.com)
purchase recommendation: Norton 360 (timely installation but the best)
also DOWNLOAD/RUN WINDOWS DEFENDER
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
(a freeware from Microsoft for spyware removal & protection)
ADJUST AMOUNT OF SPACE FOR TEMP FILES
start > control panel > internet options
then under browsing history hit settings
(i change “disk space to use” to around: 50mb)
*additionally in the internet options hit the security tab,
make sure your “internet” “local intranet” “trusted sites” & “restricted sites” are set to around “medium” – iv noticed a lot of peoples are on “custom” & the custom level is set to “lowest”…baaad way to surf..
UPDATE TO THE MOST RECANT OF YOUR SOFTWARES & DRIVERS
for example jump on mozilla.com &update to the latest version,
then open firefox, at the top hit tools, then options &hit the privacy tab, then check mark “clear private data every time i close firefox” .- this way even if you get tracking cookies there not getting the credit info you sent DJTT last week for your SE VCI.
UNINSTALL PROGRAMS YOU NO LONG USE
start > control panel > add or remove programs
*google search any programs your not sure about before uninstalling!
for example if you see “NVIDIA” never heard of it &just uninstall it, you’ll no long have sound; that was your sound card’s driver smart guy.
Honestly i run mostlt all up-to-date applications, &from companies like Ableton, Native Instruments, Image Line, Line 6, Adobe Creative Suites & etc..with out any problems; Believe it or not but on the same pc for eleven years in counting.. hah it even came from a pawn shop. – i fixed it up, treat it right &still use it today. so take it from me, a real street-guru. hahaha
awesome!!! could you guys do the same to tweak a macbook (not pro) cause my Asus laptop kicks this macbook white A** for Dj-ing… and I would like to use it for dj-ing so I can use my pc for other stuff, cause I disabled almost evetything on the pc and works great for mixing, but I don’t like to have an expensive machine for dj-ing only when this is a lot better than the mac for multitasking… THX a ton!!!!
so, how do I teak a mac for dj-ing???
You can find a wealth of info from here http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html very well written, explaining things clearly. Obviously not everything is applicable, but there are some good performance tweaks.
There is a good tweak to improve NTFS formatted drives (practically all XP and Vista machines).
Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
Then change or create this DWORD if it does not exist: NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate with a value of 1.
This disables the constant updating of dates a file/folder was last accessed improving performance.
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
I’m not sure if this has been addressed in the comments above, but if you are using XP, when you go into your services to start disabling them, if you disable them from the “general tab”, then that will disable them for all hardware profiles, regardless of which hardware profile you are in.
If you want to disable a service for one hardware profile only, then you need to click on the “Log In” tab first, then choose the hardware profile you want to disable the service for. You can find out more information about it below, as well as what those services are and what they do.
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/xpprofiles.htm
Wow, great tips. There’s a lot of stuff I even didn’t think about.
Mark Stewart : thanks for your insight on Windows 7.
[quote comment=”20234″]Just a naive question….wouldnt killing the explorer exe throught the task manager give an adequate result rather than deleting it??[/quote]
I’m definitely not suggesting you delete explorer.exe. This method in ONE account ONLY basically just prevents from explorer.exe starting at all and autoruns your DJ software instead. Stopping explorer.exe through task manager is similar but it will eat a bit of your pagefile and of course startup times are a bit slower. Again there’s nothing really magical about this tweak, it’s all about streamlining and time saving. All these things can be done manually as well.
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
Any chance of a Mac OS X streamline thread?
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
Hey Monica…good set of advices,,,i additionally run an extra XP minimal partition just for Dj ng,,,,,,
Just a naive question….wouldnt killing the explorer exe throught the task manager give an adequate result rather than deleting it??
tnx
[quote comment=”20176″][quote comment=””]macs are for Cheese brains.. learn real CODE![/quote]
Yo Rob. Comments like that are not helpful, or welcome on this forum. You need to understand that there are a lot of intelligent, thinking djs on here that make their platform choices based on preference, budget, and existing library of software, not what is “trendy”. I’m really sick of folks throwing shit just to get a rise. Keep DJTT constructive, or get off.
Monika, Thx for the great article. As a Mac user who is also into learning about PC maintenance and streamlining, I found it very informative.[/quote]
+1 Zac
unfortunately everyones a smart ass these days…..
Mark I’m not really sure why you are so incensed by Monika refering to herself as a guru, we are after all talking DJ land here, many DJ’s (even digital) are incredibly tech illiterate – I have a friend who believes his USB a-b cable is a ‘Serato’ cable.
I know in the tech industry the title of ‘guru’ is bestowed upon few, but I think you took her statment a little out of context.
You obviously have a level of knowledge in this area which is fairly unique in our scene so why dont you write an article – I found your comments very insightful.
Some great tips and info for us all here i think, what ever road you choose to sail down, editing reg files or clean partitions, this forum has a wealth of information, learning from each others mistakes and triumphs is key!
Try and test things out for yourself and if it works… mint!
Right thats me off. think i’m gonna go an buy a yoyo…
[quote comment=”20214″]How about a Pro/Con Article of Shell tampering vs Partitions? and Subsequent partition tutorial and let the people decide??[/quote]
I’d sure be happy to read an article on that! I doubt I’d be the best one for the job since clearly I think the separate account (shell drop or not) is the better/cleaner solution. Perhaps we could get Bento to write something nice and impartial!
No one here is impressed by what you’ve been doing or how long you’ve been doing it. As you said, you are not a guru either. Obviously. Get off your geeky high horse and watch your tone. I find it hard to believe you won’t frequent this forum, being that it is the best website for digital djing. But, good riddance anyway. Fuckin geek.
How about a Pro/Con Article of Shell tampering vs Partitions? and Subsequent partition tutorial and let the people decide??
STFU (people who hide behind anominity never have anything constructive to say)
Annoying maybe, but correcting mistakes that should not be made by a “guru” ..
So okay fella, I am really out of here, if you want to blindly follow her instructions, go for it .. and when it goes wrong ..you are on your own! but I can’t read anymore of this, if the moderators want to remove my threads go on .. I can’t sit and read stupid comments that have no founded background or infomation / citations to back it up.
I do this for a living ! and have been since disk drives were the size of a washing machine and only had 128Kb of storage – I’ve probably heard every story ever told about PC’s and conponents, blindly repeated as if they were the Gospel themselves …
and the worst thing is, there will be people out there that don’t know anything, reading this and thinking “wow that’s why? or “I can do this now”, at best they spread nonsense around at worst they can do real damage! – which one are you
and before anyone says “it’s because she’s a girl” etc. I treat everyone the same, a fool is a fool, no matter wat sex they are!
out of here, sorry Ean, I’m off to somewhere they actually know what they are talking about – where’s that Sesame Street DVD ?
Yes, you’re absolutely right, if the force of air movement from the can of air vs. the vaccum is exactly the same (highly unlikely) then the static generated will be exactly the same. The large nozzles on consumer vacs (NOT brush vacs meant for electronics which have a completely different design and implimentation) the high speed of airflow and the inability to use the “pump” rule of a more controlled source of air makes most consumer vacs a DANGEROUS product to get near the PCB. This is a case of “Don’t do it if you don’t know what you’re doing.” While many folks might not bad an eye at using a vacuum, it might not be the best option for each user. As a result I would NOT recommend the user do.
However, disassembling and reassembling a laptop is not as frightening a process as you portray. It should definitely be something every digital DJ learns to do.
If you want to play around with memory allocations here the real information on how to do – direct from Microsoft.
4-Gigabyte Tuning
On 32-bit editions of Windows, applications have 4 gigabyte (GB) of virtual address space available. The virtual address space is divided so that 2 GB is available to the application and the other 2 GB is available only to the system.
The 4-gigabyte tuning (4GT) feature, formerly called 4GT RAM Tuning, increases the virtual address space that is available to the application up to 3 GB, and reduces the amount available to the system to between 1 and 2 GB.
For applications that are memory-intensive, such as database management systems (DBMS), the use of a larger virtual address space can provide considerable performance and scalability benefits. However, the file cache, paged pool, and nonpaged pool are smaller, which can adversely affect applications with heavy networking or I/O. Therefore, you might want to test your application under load, and examine the performance counters to determine whether your application benefits from the larger address space.
To enable 4GT, use the BCDEdit /set command to set the increaseuserva boot entry option to a value between 2048 (2 GB) and 3072 (3 GB).
Your tone is annoying.
The /3GB switch is not related to the amount of physical memory installed in a system. It is useful if you have an application that can take advantage of a larger address space. For a process to access the full 3GB address space, the image file must have the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag set in the image header.
The real deal about /3G switch.
http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2007/03/23/memory-management-demystifying-3gb.aspx
Adding the switch can make the machine unresponsive. I’ve just rebuilt a PC tower from my father in law, without the switch, it sees all it can 3.25Gb … no problem. The switch was a short term fix for databases back in ’05 – not a way of adding physical memory.
Yet another missunderstood concept ! jeez!
QUOTE – That high amount of static electricity is usually not a great friend to PCBs.
Sorry where did you find out that it creates so much damaging static? As a server service engineer for Compaq, Sequent NUMA (million dollar plus database servers) and IBM X series, all engineers are given small vacuum cleaners in their service packs. The first thing we do is vacuum out all the airways, fan trays, fan filters, CPU fans and power supplies – these servers normally have 8 CPU’s per blade – and I can honestly say I’ve never heard of an engineer damaging anything whilst using a vacuum … maybe you have different static in your country ?
But if you feel confident to dismantle your laptop, and clean it by hand, I pray for you – I really do – a serious risk of breaking something, or loosing the tiny screws ! Oh and that would certainly invalidate your warentee!
BTW using compressed air, gives EXACTLY the same static effect as a vacuum, the static is casued by the dust particulates moving quickly against each other in free motion (yes I am a physics major/geek sorry).
The small computer componet vacuum devices have been designed in such a way to minimise the risk. Do you think IBM would let us loose cleaning $1,000,000 machines if the kit would damage them ?
If you are worried about static, discharge yourself and the equipment before, during and after cleaning – but really it’s far from necessary!
Discharging isn’t as bad as it sounds, touch a radiator, water pipe, the metal case of your amp whilst grounded, this will dispell any build up.
You can do more damage taking somthing to bits, and then once again, you have a big repair bill … we don’t want that do we?.
Mark
PS if you want to see real static, play with a “tesla coil” – brilliant, lightning in a box …nice
Oh! Also, if you’re using windows XP with more than 2G of ram, be sure to use the
/3GB
modifier in the boot.ini file. Otherwise it will only use a max of 2G of memory in XP towards processes and applications. Otherwise you’ll have about 1-2G of memory just being eaten up by magical memory addressing.
[quote comment=”20202″]And what about Windows 7 ? Not out yet but for those who have the RC, any advices ? Especially since i experiment some bugs with midi on it (see forum : http://djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6066&goto=newpost)[/quote]
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
I have been running W7x64 since it’s early alpha stage, RC2 is a little better than RC1 but introducd some alarming problems with ACPI, the RTM was pulled and the last x64 build 7.264 is absolutely crap at running Traktor for any length of time, due to the ACPI issue. It sounds like the belt is slipping on a BD turntable – most annoying !
However on the whole is way better, unistalling IE8 was the first thing to do, not been able to do this fully since ’95.
When they get ACPI fixed and a little niggle with certain SATA controllers it will be AMAZING, it instals in a flash, it’s about 15% faster than XP, but does so much more.
The best thing is the new audio stack, completely different from XP and early Vista builds. The new endpoint service is HD 7.1 and even at 192,000Khz you get blinding sound just from your internal card!
I rigged it up with ASIO4all 2.9 (now 64bit), split the channels and it never missed a beat – not something i’d recomend for a live gig, but great for parties when you just want to take a laptop.
The drivers are pretty much done and work well (Nvidea’s first effort wasn’t too great, but the last build was good). All the devices I have from Korg etc, work fine, if they don’t you can instal them as Vista or XP drivers and it will deal with them (compatability mode)
What I can say, is don’t try the RTM and “Orbit 30 activation” crack, if you attempt a rollback, say goodbye to the PC, it knows it’s a frankenbuild and puts the OS into test mode . nothing works! – Wait till the real package is on sale – save yourself so much heartache and lost hair.
Can’t say what x86 (32bit) is like, I haven’t used anything 32bit for years – it has had more RTM builds so it could be better performing,but I really don’t know.
[quote comment=”20203″]Invest in (a) a vacuum cleaner – clean those airways from dust (b) a cooling mat or stand – they are cheap and will save you from unhappy club owners.[/quote]
Thanks for providing us with some great general information, however I would really urge all our readers to NOT go at their computer with a vacuum cleaner. That high amount of static electricity is usually not a great friend to PCBs. A simple can of air or an electric compressed air machine will do you wonders, otherwise clean it manually.
[quote comment=”20203″]f you don’t have real knowledge don’t blindly copy what someone says in a forum, unless you are very friendly with your local PC service company (and they will normally charge more for a laptop!).[/quote]
I can’t stress his point here enough. If you don’t know what it does, don’t touch it.
oh and dont forget to turn off your screensaver 😉 lolz that got me once and i freaked out when my screen went black in the middle of a set.
[quote comment=”20201″]what happened to the ego checking at the door?
great thread mon, i never thought about doing some of these things, maxing out a diff partition may be just what i need.
good read fo reeeeels :)[/quote]
Ego’s aside … Trolling information from other websites is frowned upon on other forums – (spend 20mins on an extreme overclockers forum), however most of the information is valid and extremely useful even if sourced from other forums.
My rig/setup preferences
Custom built DDM4000 [proper MIDI 🙂 ] with added Korg stuff, Keypads and multitouch, the DDM4000 is clock master and I sync the other DJ’s PC’s with mine via MIDI – battling/cross mixing just got so easy! FASTTRACK pro USB2 sound – so quick now, I don’t need Firewire
I have a extreme cut down version of Vista 64 SP2 with 4Gb 1066 DDR2 (yes vista works perfectly and seriously low latencies), all unused inf files, sys files etc are removed (prevented from loading – it takes time and knowledge – but if you are unsure and still want to do it, check whats running in yor taskmanager, google that file and the many antivirus sites out there will tell you what the component is and does, some even tell you which threads it spawns and what it’s dependant on – this is very important) and then remove them (if you don’t know how to, I’m not about to tell you as one mistake and you have the chance of royally screwing up the machine.
All services other than things like audio build point, USB, screen are disabled. This will leave you with a very limited machine, no internet, no CDR, no searching etc …but it does leave you with a whole lot of headroom, more usable RAM and perhaps upt 5Gb more HD space.
DEFRAG you music collection ! shouldn’t need explaining, mine is external, so if things go wrong, it can be plugged into another PC.
MAX out your RAM slots with the best memory it will take, tight timings (4,4,4,12,1C DDR2 800 is about as good as it gets for most Laptops), XP 32 can’t see more than 3.2Gb, if you can make the move to x64 it can see everything your laptop can handle.
Remember your graphics card will probably have something called hyper-memory, this is taken from your main boards memory. The bigger the screen resolution, colour depth, the more memory it will take. If your’s is upgradeable, get a card with dedicated GFX memory. (they are a bugger to fit though – way to many small screws!)
Cache sizes, bigger is NOT always better, there’s a sweet spot in each machine, if things get a little skittish during a 4 way mashup, try reducing the cache in Traktor (especially MAC’s !) – if you have plenty of RAM then you can increase it, but always test it at full load, full effects etc. before opening Pacha’s new club (next to Starbucks on every highstreet)
Make sure that any USB 2 device is plugged into a USB 2 socket, sounds obvious, but I’ve seen so many people with USB 1.1 hubs, everything they own plugged in and the wonder why things screw up.
NB. USB devices are port based, so if you keep plugging your stuff into new sockets, it will keep installing drivers and can often get confused (mine are colour coded and marked up so I can see them in the dark booths) – even with that you can get it mixed up, as mine did last weekend – it didn’t like the fact that I changed keyboards mid set
Power management – turn it off or select performance mode, go to advanced and switch everything on expect the wifi side – this means NO battery performance, but it will mean you have 100% CPU time.
HEAT ! So bleedin’ obvious this one, run your CPU at 75% plus for a couple of hours and things get hot. Once a CPU reaches a certain temperature (Intel C/E6000 series its 85C), other models are different so check your spec., it’s slows down until it’s cool – what does this mean to you .. one f’kd up mix and an angry crowd. Invest in (a) a vacuum cleaner – clean those airways from dust (b) a cooling mat or stand – they are cheap and will save you from unhappy club owners.
BIOS changes.
Turn off the following
SPREAD SPECTRUM – all counts
SPEEDSTEP
VIRTUALISATION
there are others but these are the main ones, this is a global effect, so your other installation (office, interporn, gaming) will be affected by it, but you can on most MB’s have two profiles so set them accordingly.
Why do this, isn’t it just for overclockers? Well no, Intel have implimented a way of making your PC “green”, it drops the multiplier which reduces your CPU speed., which you don’t want as it causes jitter on your audio playback when you least expect it
IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW – DON’T DO IT – again you can screw up things.
Tweaks like those proposed by Miss Mhz are relively safe, however when you start editing the registry, removing services, etc. If you don’t have real knowledge don’t blindly copy what someone says in a forum, unless you are very friendly with your local PC service company (and they will normally charge more for a laptop!).
Remember chaps, you don’t want you main production tool, screwing up in the middle of a blinding set – unless youlike being sacked and marched out of the club.
Keep it simple, adjust things to your level of REAL knowledge not what someone has copied from a website.
I suppose myself and my Ego will have to leave this board now, I’ll go back to finishing my .tsi’s
Last note. BACK UP YOUR .TSI’s and keep em on a Pendrive, you never know when you have to quickly switch machines !
Peace.
“DEFRAG you music collection ! shouldn’t need explaining, mine is
external, so if things go wrong, it can be plugged into another PC.”
If you want to improve your computer perf. Don’t use an USB external drive. Internal SATA is faster and less resource intensive.
Use the PS/2 port to connect your mouse and keyboard instead the USB if possible.
I know it’s a very old post but this still could be useful.
And what about Windows 7 ? Not out yet but for those who have the RC, any advices ? Especially since i experiment some bugs with midi on it (see forum : http://djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6066&goto=newpost)
what happened to the ego checking at the door?
great thread mon, i never thought about doing some of these things, maxing out a diff partition may be just what i need.
good read fo reeeeels 🙂
One other thing to take into consideration when tweaking your system is that windows installs PnP drivers for alomost everything on the planet, you will use about 1% of them, those extras can be removed, leaving headroom and disk space – keep in mind though you really need to know which .sys (driver file) does what .. don’t remove presicion timers for example, as that affects the playback of audio…
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
Such a brave statement to make “I am a guru! “, even after 25 years of hardware & software suppport working for small companies like IBM & MS I wouldn’t DARE call myself a guru .. however onto your subject of performance in x86/x64 platforms.
Explorer Shell
Of course you can remove it, just in the same way you can remove any componet of Windows,
However Explorer is more than a shell, there are thread handlers, event timers and a whole host of other things than run with it. If Explorer crashes, it’s restarted automatically – why is that (apart from the obvious reg entry) it because there are timers attached to it. The “shell” is far more than a GUI as it is in nix boxes, If you were to have a memory related corruption, the shell is the best way back in to recover. Oh course if you are like me you can switch into the CMD shell and run everything from the command line, but would you really wnat to be doing this in the dark, after a few drinks and with a crowd wondering where the music has gone.
Dean on the other hand has got it right, a timmed down second partition, with things like search, indexing, WiFi, Bluetooth, LAN, powersaving, ACPI switched off is far safer and once setup you can forget about it – no worries about recovery, strange event timings, lost threads.
Look, I don’t want to start a war and start citing the MS developers notes on shell and it’s features, suffice to say – leave it alone unless you are a “guru”, it’s overheads are minimal and it’s required for stabilty in so many things, even a guru would be surpirsed
Mark Stewart
a guy who knows a bit about computers (certainly not a “guru”)
[quote comment=”20191″]
I still don’t see any advantages from removing the explorer shell, this is windows after all…[/quote]
Just like you have no need to work on documents during a DJ set, more than likely you don’t need to use the windows shell while you’re mixing. The windows shell, like ANY other application running chews resources that could be utilized by other services, drivers, and applications. Even on my ‘gigging’ machine I have a ‘performance mode’ and ‘normal mode’. Performance mode runs only the absolute essential hardware, drivers, services, etc. Is it because it can’t handle it? Not in the least it’s quad core, 4 gigs of ram, etc. The reason is all about streamlining, and focus of performance.
If the laptop has NO other purpose than performing at that moment, why should it waste ANY resources on anything else? Perhaps it’s not necessary, but since when were all geek-tweaks necessary? 😉
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
[quote comment=”20162″]
Are there any benefits with this method over creating a dual boot machine ?
I have created a second boot partition with a copy of windows on that is basically stripped right down ?[/quote]
I still don’t see any advantages from removing the explorer shell, this is windows after all…
The reason i use two partitions is to make life easy, if in the event of an error i can switch between partitions and save any important data, having a dedicated partition for my music application allows me to find any issues if they arise and not leave me wondering if the error is from some other app or driver i have installed. This provides me with a clean hardware profile, with optimal performance.
Having just the essentials installed on this partition ensures less processes from unwanted applications, i don’t normally want to start editing images, writing office documents or browsing the net whilst in the middle of a set. Also disabling unwanted devices such as network adaptors and so on can help resources, you can disable these at bios level or through windows by right click disable device in the device manager. This eliminates rogue software and devices running that might not be needed whilst djing.
As far as general system performance goes using a laptop i find there are 4 key factors. The processor, memory, hard disk and sound card. Traktor for example – mixing with 4 tracks in traktor i never tap into more than 1.5gb of ram – effects included, the only set back i find is the processor as mine is a single 2Ghz core it will reach 75% load mixing 4 tracks with effects. Then you have read and write from the hard disk, having a clean, fast, well fragmented hard drive will help when loading tracks and applications. Then i guess its all down to the sound card and drivers as this is really processing a lot of data, a high end low latency well configured sound card should correct any issues there.
As far as i can see a windows based laptop with 2gb ram and a dual core or quad core processor with a meaty sound card will run Traktor in this example very nice
As a note when running the same set up on my quad core machine with 6gb ram and large fast hard drives there is very there is no strain on the system.
Buy a $3000 Macbook… You’re gonna love it!
Really nice post!!! The shell thing is something i will be doing for sure. Have a gig tonight and don’t feel comfortable doing big changes beforehand but will use these tips!
Thanks for the write up Monika! Im going to do this on my shuttle pc (the toaster)…going to use my PC for FL studio only!
To the MAC fanboys, take a chill pill!
[quote comment=”20182″]
But then we’d get folks complaining about DJs just cuing up a batch file to DJ for them! ^_^[/quote]
DAMNIT >_
[quote comment=”20181″]Maybe he is advocating DOS based DJing,
Load C:\Tunes\generic.mp3 -A
Playdeck -A
Load C:\Tunes\generic2.mp3 -B
Setpitch -B -+3%
Playdeck -B
now thats a performance :)[/quote]
But then we’d get folks complaining about DJs just cuing up a batch file to DJ for them! ^_^
+1 Zac, very well put
lol – Im just confused about what “real” code is supposed to be,
Both XP and OSX are written in various forms of C and assembler…
Maybe he is advocating DOS based DJing,
Load C:\Tunes\generic.mp3 -A
Playdeck -A
Load C:\Tunes\generic2.mp3 -B
Setpitch -B -+3%
Playdeck -B
now thats a performance 🙂
“Just buy a Mac… Problems solved!”
Helpful like a mechanic telling you to buy a new car when you just want him to install some better brakes on the one you have.
I’m with Dean: I run two partitions, one for normal use (and recovery) and one for live use. The live partition is actually based on nLite. It’s stripped to the bone (the winXP directory is about 300 megs). The other nice thing about having two partitions is that you can easily make backups and restore backups if anything goes wrong for a quick and easy fix.
[quote comment=””]macs are for Cheese brains.. learn real CODE![/quote]
Yo Rob. Comments like that are not helpful, or welcome on this forum. You need to understand that there are a lot of intelligent, thinking djs on here that make their platform choices based on preference, budget, and existing library of software, not what is “trendy”. I’m really sick of folks throwing shit just to get a rise. Keep DJTT constructive, or get off.
Monika, Thx for the great article. As a Mac user who is also into learning about PC maintenance and streamlining, I found it very informative.
[quote comment=””][…] http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/15/optimize_windows_djs/ […][/quote]
[quote comment=””]You can kill all apps step by step until you are left with those you really need. Certainly isn’t that stripped down, but it could be an alternative (?) for all those who dont want to mess with their registry.[/quote]
Absolutely! You can do all of these things manually.
But the goal of these tweaks is to streamline the process. You can manually disable and enable hardware every time you perform. You can manually kill processes every time you perform. But the point here was to make it streamlined and simple. Start up the computer, pick the “DJ” hardware profile, and select the DJ account, and you’re ready to go! You wont have to spend 15 minutes before each show getting things adjusted down!
Many thanks for those down-tuning-hints.
One thing: U can kill explorer with much less effort: When all apps you need are open: open your task manager (ctrl+del), hit processes on top and end the ‘explorer.exe’-process. If needed you can manually restart it by clicking ‘new task’ in a second task manager round and typing ‘explorer’ + hitting enter (not an option if u drag and drop your files into traktor, all open folders will disappear).
You can kill all apps step by step until you are left with those you really need. Certainly isn’t that stripped down, but it could be an alternative (?) for all those who dont want to mess with their registry.
macs are for Cheese brains.. learn real CODE! Do you like whatever is trendy as well!? nuff said!
[quote comment=””]Thank u!! U could do the same for mac…. :)[/quote]
[quote comment=”20150″]Just buy a Mac… Problems solved![/quote]
macs are way overpriced.
Thank u!! U could do the same for mac…. 🙂
[quote comment=”20158″]This does not harm the machine in any way. This tip is well known in the Scratch Live forum and has been around for sometime. I have not heard any issues where it f’d anything. I have tried it with both Scratch Live and Traktor. Works as expected. I personally did not need to go this route, I was more curious how well it worked. I did not care for this solutions because you loose all ability to run any other application, e.g. Bomes, Ableton. Great tip otherwise[/quote]
Hey, don’t forget you can type “Ctrl+Alt+Del and run other software from the “run” dialog in Task Manager, or just put shortcuts to those essential files in the Startup directory!
[quote comment=”20162″]Are there any benefits with this method over creating a dual boot machine ?
I have created a second boot partition with a copy of windows on that is basically stripped right down ?[/quote]
A dual boot machine can be quite useful, but often times there are MORE things we can do to strip the operating system (like getting rid of the shell) to improve the system even further. I have a Laptop I use ONLY for gigs and I still use this method to distinguish ‘preparing’ from ‘gigging’ This system allows nearly ALL your computer’s resources to be dedicated to your performance and only your performance, vs. a clean install of Windows or OSX. Remember the goal of these tweeks aren’t to ‘get your computer to finally work’ but more to bring FOCUS to where it matters. Even a Mac user can appreciate the usefulness of the shell not taking up extra resources.
[quote comment=”20160″]One more comment: The only thing that should be mentioned is briefly how to back up the registry (it’s easy–google for info) and how vital it is to avoid causing serious problems to the PC.[/quote]
Great point! For those of you that are curious as to how to do this, here is a great article! http://windowsxp.mvps.org/registry.htm
There is no denying that all computers have their problems. For digital Djs our laptops are our greatest strength and our most vulnerable weakness. Macs and PCs alike are prone to unexpected crashes.
But with that being said, there is no denying that Macs have much fewer problems than PCs. I am not saying that all PCs are bad, or that Macs so supremely better overall; I am saying that Macs have less “reliability” problems than PC. Same could be applied to cars. All cars have problems some fewer than others. So to continue with that analogy, Macs are to PCs as Lexus are to Fords.
All my computer engineering professors in college used Macs. Go Illini!
Are there any benefits with this method over creating a dual boot machine ?
I have created a second boot partition with a copy of windows on that is basically stripped right down ?
One more comment: The only thing that should be mentioned is briefly how to back up the registry (it’s easy–google for info) and how vital it is to avoid causing serious problems to the PC.
A great article. I don’t use PC’s anymore but I still fix them for friends and now I can help my PC dj friends a little more too. Nice work.
[quote comment=”20149″]For the last step, do you know anyone who’s had there pc royally fcuked up from doing that last step of yours? removing the explorer.exe thing?[/quote]
This does not harm the machine in any way. This tip is well known in the Scratch Live forum and has been around for sometime. I have not heard any issues where it f’d anything. I have tried it with both Scratch Live and Traktor. Works as expected. I personally did not need to go this route, I was more curious how well it worked. I did not care for this solutions because you loose all ability to run any other application, e.g. Bomes, Ableton. Great tip otherwise
Mac heads aside, you dont need to reboot your PC laptop to disable the wireless network adapter (a common source of latency). Just right click My Network Places, right click the wireless adapter, and disable it.
this one got me thinking.. i could run a 50 gig or 30 gig partition.. with just my dj software.. hmmm.. gotta back up first.. fo sure..thinking of doing this….
[quote comment=”20148″]Great tips!… Aside from the above i find running a dedicated partition with just your chosen OS, music application and the essentials you need to have installed. This ensures max performance and no conflicts and makes your system much easier to trouble shoot.[/quote]
Definitely agree with dean on this one, I have a laptop dedicated solely to mixing and don’t use it for anything else. As a result it never misses a beat, EVER.
Would be nice if the mac fans would pull their heads in.
Theres still plenty of mac threads on the NI Tech issues forum so stop justifying your choice by posting drivel on the internet.
Great writeup. But I must say, it makes me glad I switched from PC to Mac.
Id recommend reading that entire page that Monika linked to for the dpc latency checker: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
Its good reading material, dont just download the tool without reading the entire page.
Good write up Mon 🙂
Just buy a Mac… Problems solved!
For the last step, do you know anyone who’s had there pc royally fcuked up from doing that last step of yours? removing the explorer.exe thing?
Great tips!… Aside from the above i find running a dedicated partition with just your chosen OS, music application and the essentials you need to have installed. This ensures max performance and no conflicts and makes your system much easier to trouble shoot.