Below you will find a few tips for optimizing your Vista 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
Turning the Welcome Center off
Settings for visual effects, driver updates and remote desktop
Adjusting automatic playback and sounds
Removing folders from the index
Disabling automatic hard disk defragmentation
Setting SATA controller to AHCI mode
Useful measures
Measures for mere presentation PCs without Internet connection
Optimizing the network properties
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 for execution of the program. This DirectX version must be installed in addition to DirectX 10 or 11. If you should have problems, we advise you to get the latest DirectX 9 update which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.
ASIO4ALL enables usage of standard WDM sound cards for multi-channel playback, provided they have 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 RX USB stick or on the Adobe website.
The settings listed below are useful and are mostly made in the Control Panel. We suggest leaving this dialog open all the time.
After every start of Vista the Welcome Center usually appears and should definitely turned off for presentation PCs used for installations.
Click on the Windows
icon 
and select Control Panel.
Double-click the Welcome Center and clear the check box next to Run at startup at the bottom of the dialog box.
Visual effects
Click on the Windows
icon and select Control Panel.
Double-click System and click Advanced System Settings.
Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.
On tab Advanced click the Settings button under Performance.
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,
the "colorful world of Vista" uses up less computer capacity
than one might suspect.
Hardware
Click tab Hardware and click Windows Update Driver Settings.
Enable Never check for drivers when... and the close the dialog box by clicking OK.
Now
that the automatic search function for drivers has been disabled, you
may have to perform a search manually.
Remote
Now click on tab Remote and clear the check box next to 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.
Click on the Windows
icon and select Control Panel.
Double-click Personalization and click Screen Saver.
Under Screen saver click None, followed by clicking OK.
The follow steps allow you make numerous settings for power management:
Click on the Windows
icon and select Control Panel.
Double-click Power Options, select High performance and click on Change plan settings below.
Now click Change advanced power settings: In this dialog make the following modifications:
Additional
Settings - Require a password
on wakeup 
No
Hard
disk - Tun off hard disk after
Never
Sleep
- Sleep after Never
Sleep
- Allow hybride sleep Off
Sleep
- Hibernate after Never
Power
buttons and lid - Power
button action Shut down
Power
buttons and lid - Power saving buttons Never (if available)
Power
buttons and lid - Start
menu power button Shut down
PCI
Express - Link state Power
management Off
Display
- Turn off display after
Never
Display
- Adaptive display Off
Multimedia
settings - When sharing
media Prevent idling
to sleep
Close the dialog by clicking OK.
In the Control Panel, click AutoPlay.
Set all media to No action and click Save.
Since your audience will not be very pleased to hear Windows system sounds you should switch them off:
In the Control Panel click Sound and click the Sounds tab.
Under Sound Scheme select entry No sounds.
Clear the check box next to Play Windows Startsound and click OK.
If the beep sounds from your Vista computer tend to get on your nerves, e.g. when clicking the Media Pool, turn them off:
Click on the Windows
icon and select All Programs - Accessories - Run.
In the field enter regedit and click OK. Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.
In the dialog on the left, open the following tree structure: HKEY_CURRENT_USER - Control Panel and highlight Sound.
In the window right-click Beep and select Modify.
In field Value enter No and click OK.
Vista automatically stores information about the contents of certain folders to keep track of the files on the computer. A presentation computer definitely does not need any index searches. This is why you should remove the folders in question from the index.
In the Control Panel, click Indexing Options.
Click Modify followed by Show all locations.
Click Change selected locations list, followed by Options. Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.
In the field below highlight a folder, clear the check box to remove the folder from the index.
Repeat these steps until all folders have been removed.
Close the dialogs by clicking OK or Close.
After a pause of approx. 30 minutes Vista 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:
In the Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, followed by 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.
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.
When Windows is installed, Bios is usually 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 Vista is installed to allow the corresponding drivers to be enabled. With Vista 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.
In the Windows Control Panel double-click the Device Manager and click the plus sign in front of IDE ATA/ATAPI-Controller. Below it entry Standard AHCI1.0 Serial ATA Controller should be visible. If this AHCI entry does not exist, you will not be able to enable AHCI mode. Close the System Properties.
Click the Windows
symbol and select All Programs - Accessory
- Execute.
In the field enter regedit and click OK. Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.
In the dialog on the left, open the following tree structure: HKEY_LOCAL_Machine - System - CurrentControlSet - Services and highlight msahci.
Double-click entry Start, change the value from 4 to 1 and click OK.
While rebebooting the system open Bios. Now change the SATA configuration mode from IDE to AHCI.
Save the Bios settings, reboot again and wait for Vista to appear. It will take a little while for Vista to install the new drivers after which you will be requested to reboot again.
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. 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 some free space on the Windows desktop, select Personalization and click Display Settings at the bottom.
Under Colors
click 
and select Highest (32 bits).
In order to adjust the Refresh rate click on Advanced Settings and tab Monitor. For usage with video projectors or LCD displays always choose a Screen refresh rate of 60 Hz. For tube monitors a value of 75 Hz, for usage with PAL videos 100 Hz and 60 or 90 Hz for NTSC videos (a multiple of the frame rate of the videos used). See also Media integration.
Properties and graphics card type, as
well as driver version and date can be determined via the Microsoft system
info. See System info....
Here you will find a few recommendations that are not absolutely necessary but that may facilitate working with media and Wings Vioso RX.
Click on the Windows
icon and select Control Panel.
Double-click the Windows Sidebar Properties and clear check box Start Sidebar when Windows starts.
Click on the Windows
icon and select Control Panel.
Double click Folder Options and click the View tab.
Under Hidden files and folders click option Show all files and folders.
Clear the check box next to Hide extensions for known file types.
Click OK.
It is a good idea to adjust the folder views for different contents to meet your requirements.
For this purpose, adjust the folder view (e.g. for files, images or videos) as desired.
Then click Organize
and select Folder
and Search Options.
Select the View tab and click Apply to Folders.
Repeat these steps for all types of folders (files, images, videos, etc.)
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.
On a presentation computer only those network connections and functions should be enabled which are absolutely necessary. Disable any superfluous connections, protocols and services. Wings Vioso RX only requires TCP/IP protocol and the Client for Microsoft networks.
In the Control Panel double-click Network and Sharing Center and click Manage network connections on the left.
Right-click the LAN connection and select Properties. Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.
Clear all check boxes except those next to Client for Microsoft networks and Internet protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
Close the dialog by clicking OK.
Computers
that are used for multidisplay presentations should not obtain their IP
addresses automatically. Make sure you enter the IP address manually for
such applications. See Static
IP addresses in the network.
Changing these setting also affects the Help suggestions by Vista and should only be made by experienced users.
In the Control Panel, click Problem Reports and Solutions and click Change settings on the left.
Click Advanced settings and Change setting at Allow each user to choose settings.
Select Off and click OK.
Answer any question that may come up with Continue and close the Problem Report dialog box.
Important: 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 this poses a security risk!
Click on the Windows
icon and select Control Panel.
Double-click Windows Firewall and click Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
Confirm any messages that may come up with Continue.
Click Off, followed by OK and close this Firewall dialog box, too.
Now disable the Defender functions.
In the Control Panel, double-click Windows Defender.
Click Extras at the top and Options.
Disable the following items (you may have to scroll further down):
Automatically scan my computer
Use realtime protection
Scan the contents of archived...
Use heuristics to detect...
Create a restore point before...
Use Windows Defender
Click Save to accept the changes.
In the Control Panel, click Security Center and Change the way Security Center alerts me on the left.
Click Don't notify me and don't display the icon.
It is not useful to have the presentation computer automatically search for updates. This feature should be disabled.
In the Security Center click Windows Update and Change settings on the left.
Click Never check for updates, click OK and close the Update dialog box.
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.
These steps prevent continual prompting for permission for tasks requiring administrative rights. Important remark: Since turning the user account control disables some Vista security functions, only experienced PC users should do so.
Click on the Windows
icon and select Control Panel.
Double-click User Accounts and click Turn User Account Control on or off.
Confirm all messages with Continue.
Clear the check box next to Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect.... and then click OK.
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 Vioso RX.
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://frank.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. Windows will refuse to terminate "essential" system tasks, but some crashes may be caused by terminating tasks.
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 disabling those devices in the device control system which are not really necessary.
See also