Optimizing Windows 7

Below you will find a few tips for optimizing your Windows 7 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

Install additional software

Settings for visual effects, driver updates and remote desktop

Configuring screen savers, sounds and user interface

Setting up Power Options

Disabling automatic playback

Disabling indexing

Disabling automatic hard disk defragmentation

Setting SATA controller to AHCI mode

Graphics card and drivers

Activating high-performance notebook graphics chips

Useful measures

Adjusting folder options

Disable messages from the Action Center

Measures for mere presentation PCs without Internet connection

Avoiding the login dialog when starting up the computer

Turning problem reports off

Adjusting firewall, defender and windows updates

Turning the user account control off

Searching for interfering tasks

 

Additional software

For certain functions, Wings Vioso RX requires installation of additional software that  should be on any presentation PC:

Recommended measures

The settings listed below are useful and are mostly made in the Control Panel. You'd better leave this dialog open and select Display Small icons, as the following explanations refer to this type of display.

Settings for visual effects, driver updates and remote desktop

Visual effects

  1. Click on the Windows icon   and select Control Panel.

  2. Click System and Advanced System Settings.

  3. On tab Advanced under Performance click on Settings.

  4. Click Adjust for best performance. Close the dialog by clicking on 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, the "colorful world of Windows 7" uses up less performance than one might suspect.

Hardware

  1. Click tab Hardware and Device installation settings.

  2. Enable No, let me choose what to do and Never install driver software from Windows Update. Close the dialog by clicking OK.

Now that the automatic search function for drivers has been disabled, you may have to perform a search manually.

Remote

  1. Select tab Remote and clear check box Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer.

  2. Click OK and close this System dialog.

Configuring screen savers, sounds and user interface

Screen saver and energy saving measures may seriously affect the presentation on a presentation PC. It may also be useful to have a black desktop, in order to prevent some Windows desktop images to show in case of problems.

  1. Click on the Windows icon and select Control Panel.

  2. Click Appearance and Personalization and select a theme under Areo Themes. Info: Using an Aero Theme will improve playback of single display shows. In Multidisplay Mode the Windows default settings are activated automatically and the previously selected setting is resumed after terminating Wings Vioso RX.

  3. Click on Desktop background and under Picture location choose Solid colors. Click the black pattern followed by Save changes.

  4. At the bottom click on Sounds and from the Sound schemes list select No sounds. Clear check box Play Windows startup sound and click OK.

  5. At the right bottom click Screensaver. Under Screensaver click Non and clear check box On resume, display logon screen. Close the dialog by clicking on OK.

If the Beep sounds during your work with Wings Vioso RX are getting on your nerves...

Setting up Power Options

The follow steps allow you to make numerous settings for energy management:

  1. Click on the Windows icon   and select Control Panel.

  2. Click Power Options, followed by clicking Show additional plans and select High performance.

  3. On the right click Change plan settings and select Never for Turn off the display and Put the computer to sleep.

  4. Now click Change advanced power settings. In this dialog choose High performance [Active] and make the following changes below:

  5. Hard disk - Turn off hard disk   Never

  6. Sleep - Sleep after  Never

  7. Sleep - Allow Hybrid Sleep  Off

  8. Sleep - Hibernate after  Never

  9. Power buttons and lid - Power button action  Shut down

  10. PCI Express - Link State  Off

  11. Display - Turn off display after Never

  12. Multimedia Settings - When Sharing Media   Prevent idling to sleep

  1. Close the dialog by clicking OK followed by clicking on Save changes.

Disabling automatic playback

  1. On the Control Panel click AutoPlay.

  2. For all media change the settings to Take no action and click Save.

Disabling indexing

Windows 7 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.

  1. On the Control Panel click Indexing Options.

  2. Click Modify followed by clicking Show all locations.

  3. Clear check box Change selected locations and there will be no more entries below.

  4. Close the dialogs by clicking OK or Close.

Disabling automatic hard disk defragmentation

After a pause of approx. 30 minutes Windows 7 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:

  1. On the Control Panel click Administrative Tools followed by clicking Task Scheduler.

  2. In the dialog on the left open the following tree structure: Task Scheduler (Local) - Task Scheduler Library - Microsoft - Windows and highlight Defrag.

  3. In the window at the top you will find a Scheduler entry which you delete by right-clicking it.

  4. 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.

Setting SATA controller to AHCI mode

When Windows is installed, Bios is sometimes set to IDE mode. AHCI mode is usually the more up-to-date and more efficient mode. It supports hot-plugging of eSATA hard disks and NCQ (native command queuing), so that the controller is enabled to make simultaneous requests to the hard disk which in turn optimizes the order in which the commands are executed. However, NCQ must also be supported by the hard disks, which is usually the case with newer models.

Normally, AHCI mode in Bios must be set during "SATA configuration" before Windows 7 is installed to allow the corresponding drivers to be enabled. With Windows 7 already being installed, you can check in Bios or the Windows Control Panel whether AHCI mode is active. If this is not the case, AHCI mode can also be enabled without reinstalling Windows by resorting to a little trick.

  1. In the Windows Control Panel double-click the Device Manager and click the plus sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI-Controller. Below it entry Standard AHCI1.0 Serial ATA Controller should be visible. Depending on the controller driver the entry might differ although it should contain AHCI. If this AHCI entry does not exist, you will not be able to enable AHCI mode. Close the System Properties.

  2. Click the Windows symbol and select All Programs - Accessory - Execute.

  3. In the field enter regedit and click OK. Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.

  4. In the dialog on the left open the following tree structure: HKEY_LOCAL_Machine - System - CurrentControlSet - Services and highlight msahci.

  5. Double-click entry Start, change the value to 0 and click OK.

  6. While rebooting the system open Bios during the restart. Now change the SATA configuration mode from IDE to AHCI.

  7. Save the Bios settings, reboot again and wait for Windows 7 to appear. It will take a little while for Windows 7 to install the new drivers after which you will be requested to reboot again.

If a restart causes a blue screen and a crash there may be no suitable driver available or your hardware is incompatible with AHCI mode, which may be particularly apply to RAID systems.

Graphics card and drivers

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 or even better 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.

  1. Right-click some free space on the Windows desktop and select Screen resolution.

  2. Now select Advanced Settings and tab Monitor. For Screen refresh rate choose 60 Hz for usage of projectors or LCD displays or 50 Hz for usage of PAL videos (always choose a multiple of the frame rate of the videos used). See also Media integration.

  3. Below it you can select the color depth under Colors;  select 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.

Activating high-performance notebook graphics chips

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 RX since the integrated graphics processor offers less performance. The procedure is similar for Nvidia and AMD Radeon. For the details on both systems see below:

Nvidia Optimus

  1. Right-click a free area on the Windows Desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel.

  2. In the dialog on the left under 3D Settings click Manage 3D settings.

  3. On tab Global Settings under Preferred graphics processor choose setting NVIDIA high performance processor.

  4. On tab Program Settings click Add and select Wings5.exe which can be found at C:\Programs (x86)\AV Stumpfl\Wings Vioso RX.

Some notebooks may show a drop in performance some seconds after playback start due to faulty power management. In such a case open the Nvidia Control Panel and go to  Manage 3D Settings and tab Global Settings and change the Power Management Mode in the list from the default setting Adaptive to Prefer maximum performance. Show Setting.

AMD Radeon mobile

  1. Right-click an empty space on the Windows Desktop and select Configure switchable graphics.

  2. Select Global Application Settings for Battery and Plugged In to Maximum Performance. Show settings.

  3. In the dialog below click on Switchable graphics - Application Settings. In the dialog box that has opened up click on Add Application and select Wings5.exe, which can be found at “C:\Programs (x86)\AV Stumpfl\Wings 5”.

  1. In the list highlight Wings5.exe and select High performance in column Graphics settings. Show settings.

  2. To finish, click on Apply and close the dialog.

Useful measures

Here you will find a few recommendations that are not absolutely necessary but that may facilitate working with media and Wings Vioso RX.

Adjusting folder options

  1. Click on the Windows icon and select Control Panel.

  2. Click Folder Options and click the View tab.

  3. Clear the check box next to Hide extensions for known file types.

  4. Under Hidden files and folders click option Show hidden files, folders and drives.

  5. Click OK.

It is a good idea to adjust the folder views for different contents to meet your requirements.

  1. For this purpose, adjust the folder view (e.g. for files, images or videos) as desired.

  2. Then click Organize and select Folder and Search Options.

  3. Click the View tab, click Apply to Folders.

Repeat these steps for all types of folders (files, images, videos, etc.)

Disabling messages from the Action Center

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. These popups can be disabled although this means that in the future you will have to look for this information yourself.

  1. Click on the Windows icon , click Control Panel and click Notification Area Icons.

  2. Click Action Center and select Hide icons and notifications.

  3. You can also change the settings for any other icons if they should get in the way of your presentation.

  4. Finish by clicking OK.

 

Measures for mere presentation computers without Internet connection

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.

Avoiding the login dialog when starting up the computer

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!

  1. Call dialog Execute by pressing the Windows-key and R.

  2. Enter netplwiz and click OK, and the User accounts dialog will pop up. Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.

  3. In the field, highlight the user account that is to log in automatically in the future.

  4. Clear check box Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer and click OK.

  5. In the following dialog enter the password twice for the specified user account and click OK.

Next time Windows 7 starts up the user is logged in automatically.

See also Automatic computer startup and show start

Turning problem reports off

Changing these setting also affects the Help suggestions by Windows 7 and should only be made by experienced users.

  1. In the Control Panel click Problem Reports and Solutions and Change settings on the left.

  2. Under Choose how to check solutions to computer problems select Off.

  3. Close the dialog by clicking OK.

Adjusting firewall, defender, Java and windows updates

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!

  1. Click on the Windows icon and select Control Panel.

  2. Click Windows Firewall and on Turn Windows Firewall on or off.

  3. Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.

  4. Enable Turn off Windows Firewall, click OK and close the Firewall dialog.

Now disable the Defender functions

  1. In the Control Panel click Windows Defender.

  2. At the top click Tools followed by Options.

  3. Disable the following items (you may have to scroll further down):

  1. Click Save to accept the changes.

It is not useful to have the presentation computer automatically search for updates. This feature should be disabled.

  1. In the Security Center click Windows Update and Change settings on the left.

  2. Enable Never check for updates, click OK and close the Update dialog box.

  3. 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 CS). If your computer runs an anti-virus program, disable it before you start the presentation.

Turning the user account control off

These steps prevent continual prompting for permission for tasks requiring administrative rights. Important note: Since turning the user account control disables some Windows 7 security functions, only experienced PC users should do so.

  1. Click on the Windows icon and select Control Panel.

  2. Double-click User Accounts and click Turn User Account Control on or off.

  3. Confirm all messages with Continue.

  4. Clear the check box next to Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect... and then click OK.

 

Searching for interfering tasks

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.

Determining and removing tasks

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 Vioso RX.  

  1. Right-click a free area in the task bar and select Task Manager.

  2. 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).

  3. 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.

  4. Once you have found out about the interfering task, uninstall the corresponding program or disable it as explained above at the example of Messenger or Task Scheduler. Otherwise this task will be reactivated when the computer starts up the next time.

If this does not help eliminating the problem, it may be due to the devices or drivers. Update all drivers and test disable those devices in the device control system which are not really necessary.

See also

Saving resources