Below you will find a few tips for optimizing your Windows 10 PC, sorted according to importance. The first set of suggested measures is appropriate in most cases, the second category just helpful, whereas the settings at the end of the list are for experts who are setting up computers used only for presentations.
The modifications suggested
below deviate considerably from the standard and security settings and
serve for optimal and trouble free presentation only. Before making these
modifications create a restore point, that allows you to change back to
the old configuration, if necessary. For computers that are also used
for other purposes it may be useful to create a new user, e.g. "Presentation",
which lets you start the computer with this user profile for presentations.
Recommended measures
Installing additional software
Settings for visual effects, driver updates and remote desktop
Configuring screen savers, sounds and user interface
Disabling automatic hard disk defragmentation
Enabling high-performance graphics chips for notebooks
Useful measures
Limiting the activities of the Action Center
Measures for mere presentation computers without Internet connection
Avoiding the login dialog when starting up the computer
Adjusting firewall, defender and windows updates
Turning the user account control off
Searching for interfering tasks
For certain functions, Wings Vioso RX requires installation of additional software that should be on any presentation PC.
DirectX 9.0c of June 2010 is required for running Wings Vioso RX. This DirectX version must be installed in addition to DirectX 10, 11 or 12. If you should have problems, we advise you to get the latest DirectX 9 update which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.
ASIO4ALL allows usage of standard WDM sound cards for multi-channel playback provided they feature a 5.1 output. This tool can be found at www.asio4all.de. Note: If you are using a real ASIO sound card with separate ASIO driver you should not install ASIO4ALL as this may cause conflicts.
Although Acrobat Reader is not necessary for Wings Vioso RX it allows display of any information available in PDF format. It can be found on the Wings Vioso USB-stick or on the Adobe website.
The settings listed below are useful and are mostly made in the Control
Panel, which can be opened by clicking the Windows icon 
and selecting Control
Panel . You'd better leave this dialog open and select Display
and Large icons or Small
icons, as the following explanations refer to this type of display.
Visual effects
Right-click the Windows
icon and select Control
Panel.
Click System
followed by clicking Advanced System
Settings. 
If
Option "System" cannot be selected...
On tab Advanced under Performance click on Settings.
Click Adjust for best performance. Close the dialog by clicking OK.
If
you should find out that important functions have been turned off you
can turn them on again individually in the above dialog box. In our experience
semi-transparent windows and font smoothing, etc. use up less performance
than many people may think.
Hardware
Click tab Hardware and Device installation settings.
Select No and close the dialog by clicking Save changes.
Now
that the automatic search function for drivers has been disabled, you
may have to perform a search manually.
Remote
Select tab Remote and clear the check box Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer.
Click OK and close this System dialog box, too.
Screen saver and energy saving measures may seriously affect the presentation run on a presentation PC. It may also be useful to have a black or gray desktop, in order to prevent some Windows desktop images from being displayed on the screen in case of problems.
Right-click the Windows
icon and select Control
Panel. If
icon “Personalization” cannot be selected...
Click Personalization and select a semi-transparent theme. Info: Such themes are better suited for playback of single-display shows than high-contrast themes.
At the bottom click Desktop background and for Background select Solid color. Select the black or gray color pattern and close the dialog.
In dialog Personalization click Sounds at the bottom and select No Sounds for Sound Scheme. Remove the checkmark next to Play Windows Startup Sound.
In order to mute the Action Center sound for incoming notifications highlight entry Notification in field Program Events under Windows Default and select option (None) under Sounds. Close be clicking on OK.
In the bottom right corner click Screen Saver. Under Screensaver click (None) and clear check box On resume, display logon screen. Close the dialog by clicking OK.
Now check the size
settings for texts and icons in the programs. Click on the Windows
icon , select Settings
and System.
The value next to Change the size of text, apps, and other items: should be 100%. If this is not the case move the slider to the very left until the value is 100 %. The value for scaling can be set separately for every monitor or projector. If you need to enlarge the interfaces for usage on a 4k monitor mind the following notes.
Important note: With a value above 100 % for text size and interface, the Wings program window and the screen are scaled up and the presentation becomes blurred. To prevent this you can uncheck Enable scaling by Windows in the Global Options under User interface before the presentation. See Options - Global Options - User interface.
With
Windows 10 the taskbar is usually shown on all monitors. This may
be disturbing when the fullscreen is not open. 
This is how you restrict the
taskbar to the primary monitor
The follow steps allow you make numerous settings for energy management:
Right-click the Windows
icon and select Control
Panel. If
icon “Power Options” cannot be selected...
Click Power Options, followed by clicking Show additional plans and select High performance.
On the right click Change plan settings and select Never for Turn off the display and Put the computer to sleep.
Now click Change advanced power settings. In this dialog choose High performance [Active] and make the following changes below:
Hard
disk - Turn off hard disk 
Never
Sleep
- Sleep after Never
Sleep
- Allow Hybrid Sleep Off
Sleep
- Hibernate after Never
Power
buttons and lid - Power
button action
Shut down
PCI
Express - Link State Power
Management
Off
Display
- Turn off display after Never
Multimedia
Settings - When sharing
media Prevent
idling to sleep
Close the dialog by clicking OK.
On the Control Panel
click AutoPlay. If
this option cannot be selected...
For all media change the settings to Take no action and click Save.
Windows 10 automatically creates an index for the contents for certain folders and updates it regularly. Since these hard disk accesses are superfluous for presentation computers you should disable indexing.
On the Control Panel
click Indexing Options. If
this option cannot be selected...
Click Modify followed by clicking Show all locations.
Clear check box Change selected locations and there will be no more entries below.
Close the dialogs by clicking OK or Close.
After a pause of approx. 30 minutes Windows 10 automatically starts hard disk defragmentation. This might lead to problems during a presentation. The defragmentation result achieved such is also anything but good. This is how you can turn off automatic defragmentation:
On the Control Panel click Administrative Tools followed by clicking Task Scheduler.
In the dialog on the left, open the following tree structure: Task Scheduler (Local) - Task Scheduler Library - Microsoft - Windows and highlight Defrag.
In the window at the top you will find a Scheduler entry which you delete by right-clicking it.
Now close the Task Scheduler dialog.
It's
a good idea to use a good defragmentation program, e.g. O&O
Defrag and defragment the hard disk after playing all media but
before actually starting the presentation. SSDs do not require any defragmentation
On the contrary, it would even reduce their life time.
For smooth playback of high-resolution HDAV shows a high-quality, fast 3 D graphics card with a lot of graphics memory and an up-to-date driver are highly important. Color rendering must be set to a minimum color depth of 24 bits or better even 32 bits. For fluent movements and panning, the refresh rate should match the display and the frame rate of the video. See also Media integration.
Right-click a free area on the Windows Desktop and select Display settings. At the bottom click Advanced display settings.
At the bottom click Advanced display settings followed by selecting Display adapter properties at the very bottom. In the dialog displayed select tab Monitor. For Screen refresh rate choose 60 Hertz for usage with projectors or LCD displays, or 50 Hertz playback of PAL videos on monitors or projectors that are able to play 50 Hz without any problems. Always choose a screen refresh rate that corresponds to the frame rate of the video used or a multiple of it. See also Media integration.
Below it you can select the Color depth. The best choice is 32 bits. Some graphics cards to not allow selection of the color depth, e.g. Intel graphics chips. If a more powerful graphics card is available you should enable it. See Activating Nvidia Optimus graphics chip below.
Properties and graphics card type, as well as driver version and date can be determined via the Microsoft system info. See System info...
Tip
for NVidia graphics cards: NVidia graphic cards, by default,
will display all your videos in dull colors. This is something you
should correct in the NVidia control panel.
Adjusting
the tonal value range in the NVidia Control Panel...
Note: This setting is usually not available for notebooks.
Modern notebooks are slim and economic and usually feature main processors with integrated graphics capability and a graphics chip by Nvidia or AMD Radeon. You need to make sure that always the better graphics chip is used for Wings Vioso since the integrated graphics processor offers less performance. The procedure is similar for Nvidia and AMD Radeon. Detail information on both system can be found below.
Right-click a free area on the Windows Desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel.
In the dialog on the left under 3D Settings click Manage 3D settings.
On tab Global Settings under Preferred graphics processor choose setting Nvidia high performance processor.
On tab Program Settings click Add and select Wings5.exe which can be found at “C:\Program Files (x86)\AV Stumpfl\Wings 5”.
Some notebooks may show reduced performance
after playback start due to inappropriate power management. In such cases
change the settings in the Nvidia Control Panel as follows: Click Manage 3D Settings and select tab
Global Settings. In the list under
Settings change the setting for
Power management mode from the
default setting Adaptive to Prefer maximum performance. Show
settings.
Right-click some free area on the Windows Desktop and select Configure switchable graphics.
For Global
Application Settings select setting Maximize
performance for Battery
and Plugged In
Show settings.
In the dialog below click Switchable graphics - Application Settings. In the dialog popping up click Add application and select Wings5.exe which can be found at “C:\Program Files (x86)\AV Stumpfl\Wings 5".
In the list highlight
Wing5.exe and in column Graphics settings select High
performance,
Show settings.
Click Accept and close the dialog.
If you want to play you shows as EXE
presentations you need to add every EXE presentation to the Application
Settings as explained above.
Here you will find a few recommendations that are not absolutely necessary but that may facilitate working with media and Wings Vioso RX.
Right-click the Windows
icon and select Settings.
In field Find a setting enter
Folder and from the suggested
topics select File Explorer Options.
At the top of the dialog box select tab View.
Clear the check box next to Hide extensions for known file types.
Under Hidden files and folders click option Show hidden files, folders and drives.
Click OK.
It is a good idea to adjust the folder views for different contents to meet your requirements.
Start by adjusting the folder view (e.g. for files, images or videos) as desired. Open the File Explorer, click tab View at the top and select the desired view.
Then click tab File and select Change folder and search options.
Click the View tab, click Apply to Folders.
Repeat these steps for all types of folders (files, images, videos, etc...)
The Windows Action Center, via popups, automatically informs about problems and incidents that may not altogether be so important and which may disturb during a presentation.
Click on the Windows
icon , select Settings
and System.
On the left, click Notifications & actions following which the notifications appear on the right. Normally, it should do if Hide notifications while presenting is turned on.
As an alternative, you can also turn off the entire Action Center. Click Turn system icons on or off and switch the Action Center off. This means that Windows will no longer inform you about problems via the Action Center.
Close the dialog.
If you have not done so already, disable the Action Center sound for incoming notifications. Click the control panel icon Sound and highlight entry Notification in field Program Events under Windows Default. At the bottom click Sounds and select option (None). Close by clicking OK.
As an alternative, the Action Center can
be disabled. In the Task Bar click the Action Center icon 
and the button Quiet
Hours. If this button is not visible click on Expand.
The following steps should only be performed by experts for computers that are not connected to the Internet and are exclusively used for presentation purposes.
The modifications suggested below deviate considerably from the standard
and security settings and serve for optimal and trouble free presentation
only. Before making these modifications create a restore point, that allows
you to change back to the old configuration, if necessary. For computers
that are also used for other purposes the steps described below should
not be performed.
For permanent installations, which are activated in the morning via timer control and run automatically, the logon dialog may be a nuisance. There is a way around this.
Please note that avoiding the logon dialog
and the password query may allow unauthorized access to your data!
Call dialog Execute by pressing the Windows-key and R.
Enter netplwiz and click OK, and the User accounts dialog will pop up.
In the field, highlight the user account that is to log in automatically in the future.
Clear check box Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer and click OK.
In the following dialog enter the password twice for the specified user account and click OK.
Next time Windows starts up the user is logged in automatically.
See also Automatic computer startup and show start
Changing these setting also affects the Help suggestions by Windows and should only be made by experienced users.
On the Control Panel click Problem Reports and Solutions and Change settings on the left.
Under Choose how to check solutions to computer problems select Off.
Close the dialog by clicking OK.
Important note: These settings should only be changed, if your computer is not connected to the Internet and is run within a network controlled by you. Otherwise there is a security risk!
Right-click the Windows
icon and select
Control Panel.
Click Windows Firewall and on Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
Enable Turn off Windows Firewall, click OK and close the Firewall dialog.
Now disable the Defender functions.
Click
on the Windows icon 
,
select Settings and Update & Security.
Click Windows Defender on the left and change Real-time protection to Off.
If any other security software has been installed these Defender On-Off Settings are disabled as they are controlled by the other security software.
Unfortunately, Windows Defender automatically reenables this setting after a while or after a restart. If you want to permanently disable Windows Defender...
It is not useful to have the presentation computer automatically search for updates automatic updates should be disabled. Unfortunately, Windows 10 does not offer an explicit disabling function. However, this function can be disabled as follows:
On the keyboard, press
the Windows key
+ R to open the Run dialog.
Enter services.msc and confirm with the Enter key following which window Services will open up.
In the list of services select Windows Update and double-click it.
In the window popping up select Startup type and entry Disabled and confirm by clicking OK.
Following this click Java (32 bits) in the Control Panel. Click tab Update and remove the checkmark next to Automatic search for updates. Close the dialog by clicking OK.
Disable automatic update for all programs
(e.g. Adobe Photoshop). If your computer runs an anti-virus program, disable
it before you start the presentation.
These steps prevent continual prompting for permission for tasks requiring administrative rights. Important note: Since turning the user account control disables some Windows 10 security functions, only experienced PC users should do so.
Right-click the Windows
icon and select
Control Panel.
Click on User Accounts and click Change User Account Control Settings.
Move the slider to the very bottom to Never notify me and click OK. Answer the following warning with Yes.
If no sufficient performance could be achieved, despite heeding the tips above, the reason may be difficult to find. Usually, it's some programs that are still active in the background that you need to track and deactivate. In order to prevent the installation from becoming inoperative by deactivating any "essential" programs, you should create restore points for Windows. How this is done, is explained in the Windows Help. Otherwise a defective installation may never be repaired again.
Following the tips for PC
optimization is at your own risk. We cannot accept any liability for any
damage that may be caused. If necessary, ask a computer expert to perform
these measures for you to rule out any damage.
The paragraph above contains some information for optimizing tasks. If your program still does not run without any problems, you can have a look at the Task Manager and see which tasks and processes are being performed. The next step is to find out if any of the tasks performed interferes with Wings Platinum.
Right-click a free area in the task bar and select Task Manager.
Click on tab Processes for a list with the currently running processes to be displayed. To find out what the abbreviations stand for, have a look at the Windows Help or the Internet, e.g. at http://frankn.com (German).
Terminate one process after the other and keep checking whether the malfunction has been eliminated, e.g. jerky playback for HDAV shows. Start with user-specific processes and make a note of the process you have just terminated. Although Windows will refuse to terminate "essential" system tasks, some crashes may be caused by terminating tasks.
Once you have found out about the interfering task, uninstall the corresponding program or disable it, e.g. via the system configuration (msconfig.exe). After restarting, check whether a disabled program is actually no longer running.
If this does not help to eliminate the problem, it may be due to the devices or drivers. Update all drivers and test disabling those devices in the device control system which are not really necessary.
See also
