De-Bloating Windows 11

[electro]

98lite used to strip away all the necessary bloat to optomise a Windows environment for reliable DAW use. Is there a similar guide improving Windows 11 for reliable low latency performance?

[havran]

I hesitate to post links or make any specific recommendations, but a search for "Windows 11 debloater" should turn up some items to investigate.

Similarly, a search for ''optimize windows 11 for audio production" should turn up some useful results.

[Pictus]

You can use this to install a less bloated Windows
(Do not disable UAC and do not enable WDAC policy!)
https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/


After Windows is installed you can do more tweaks, check
viewtopic.php?p=8820694#p8820694

[kmonkey]

I was and am running Windows 10 and 11 with literally zero (0) so-called DAW optimizations and never had a single problem. When comparing my setup and benchmarks with other partners, colleagues, or even clients or what people online report, I have had pretty consistent results, just as any other machine out there.

What the f*** are you optimizing at or for? I have Ryzen 8700G and NVMe, RME sound card and I can run a shit ton of plugins even at 96khz, literally out of this world. Recording an absurd amount of tracks if needed. To be fair I could do the same back then at SandyBridge 2600k. I mean I don't remember any whatsoever issue related to performance.

So today with that in mind my setup is absurdly performant even with zero optimizations.

What are you guys recording a small city or something? Just what the hell are you doing so that you need some "daw optimization"?

I'll never forget an anecdote if you will. So I was with a good friend of mine. I helped him record some guitar tracks for a big-name producer. At the end of a session (in his studio) he asked me "What do you think about DAW optimizations on the OS level". My answer was "If your setup is properly configured no special customization is needed. Why you are asking me?" He said: that a big name (I am not going to use his name) said to me I should do it. Then my comment was: look. Next time when you are with him, ask him why does he "DAW optimizations" but ask him to explain what he is getting from that. Maybe we learn something.

So he did. And I asked him "And?"...and his answer was..." he told me he did it because someone else told him to do it"

Ok then.

Look guys Windows XP times are over. Windows 7 maybe some tweaks that helped with poor drivers. Today? Nahhh..

[Cavey Arrgh]

I was and am running Windows 10 and 11 with literally zero (0) so-called DAW optimizations and never had a single problem. When comparing my setup and benchmarks with other partners, colleagues, or even clients or what people online report, I have had pretty consistent results, just as any other machine out there.

What the f*** are you optimizing at or for? I have Ryzen 8700G and NVMe, RME sound card and I can run a shit ton of plugins even at 96khz, literally out of this world. Recording an absurd amount of tracks if needed. To be fair I could do the same back then at SandyBridge 2600k. I mean I don't remember any whatsoever issue related to performance.

So today with that in mind my setup is absurdly performant even with zero optimizations.

What are you guys recording a small city or something? Just what the hell are you doing so that you need some "daw optimization"?

I'll never forget an anecdote if you will. So I was with a good friend of mine. I helped him record some guitar tracks for a big-name producer. At the end of a session (in his studio) he asked me "What do you think about DAW optimizations on the OS level". My answer was "If your setup is properly configured no special customization is needed. Why you are asking me?" He said: that a big name (I am not going to use his name) said to me I should do it. Then my comment was: look. Next time when you are with him, ask him why does he "DAW optimizations" but ask him to explain what he is getting from that. Maybe we learn something.

So he did. And I asked him "And?"...and his answer was..." he told me he did it because someone else told him to do it"

Ok then.

Look guys Windows XP times are over. Windows 7 maybe some tweaks that helped with poor drivers. Today? Nahhh..

Do you have a self/custom build pc?

An Example to answer why people ask for tweaks: brand new Dell desktop i7-14700 with 32Gb 5600 ram and nmve ssd has occasional dropouts in Reason 12 running ~15 channels/tracks with average of 3 vsts per track (lets say a softube or uhe synth plus arturia fx and tdr compressor) at 96k. And if I add LTL Silverbullet to a few tracks it would probably dropout even at 48k. This is even when Taskmanager says <70% CPU and same for RAM useage. I'm not a pc expert so please be gentle in any rebuttal

[kmonkey]

Do you have a self/custom build pc?

An Example to answer why people ask for tweaks: brand new Dell desktop i7-14700 with 32Gb 5600 ram and nmve ssd has occasional dropouts in Reason 12 running ~15 channels/tracks with average of 3 vsts per track (lets say a softube or uhe synth plus arturia fx and tdr compressor) at 96k. And if I add LTL Silverbullet to a few tracks it would probably dropout even at 48k. This is even when Taskmanager says <70% CPU and same for RAM useage. I'm not a pc expert so please be gentle in any rebuttal

My apologies for not making this clear. Yes, I have a custom setup built by myself. I worked 12 years in computer repair service so I realize I am not a "usual" case.

And yes you may be right and on track with this. I need to retract my statement. I noticed that randomly and with random brand name preconfigured desktops - users do not have all the freedom of option with OEM BIOS and most of the time vendors make their shenanigans with special power/performance schemes.

In that case and in that context you may be right, perhaps some tuning is needed. I apologize for being pretty narrow in my previous statement.

Happy New Year everyone. I wish everyone to stay healthy. Despite my mostly unnecessary rude comments and whatnot I truly want everyone to be healthy. So that we can pour our crap into this forum yet another year but I'll try to be a better person I promise.

[Cavey Arrgh]

Do you have a self/custom build pc?

An Example to answer why people ask for tweaks: brand new Dell desktop i7-14700 with 32Gb 5600 ram and nmve ssd has occasional dropouts in Reason 12 running ~15 channels/tracks with average of 3 vsts per track (lets say a softube or uhe synth plus arturia fx and tdr compressor) at 96k. And if I add LTL Silverbullet to a few tracks it would probably dropout even at 48k. This is even when Taskmanager says <70% CPU and same for RAM useage. I'm not a pc expert so please be gentle in any rebuttal

My apologies for not making this clear. Yes, I have a custom setup built by myself. I worked 12 years in computer repair service so I realize I am not a "usual" case.

And yes you may be right and on track with this. I need to retract my statement. I noticed that randomly and with random brand name preconfigured desktops - users do not have all the freedom of option with OEM BIOS and most of the time vendors make their shenanigans with special power/performance schemes.

In that case and in that context you may be right, perhaps some tuning is needed. I apologize for being pretty narrow in my previous statement.

Happy New Year everyone. I wish everyone to stay healthy. Despite my mostly unnecessary rude comments and whatnot I truly want everyone to be healthy. So that we can pour our crap into this forum yet another year but I'll try to be a better person I promise.

Thanks for the nice response. I wasn't offended by your previous post, FWIW. It wasn't even a 5 on the 1-10 KVR Rudeness meter.

[harryupbabble]

debloating and performance tweaks can be good for...
the lifespan of the computer?

when the cpu is working harder
it means the cooling fan is also working harder
and more electricity is being used
and parts on the motherboard are also dying faster?

neil young was wrong?
it's not better to burn out than it is to fade?
fade takes longer than burnout?

a computer that takes two decades to fade...
is better than one that burn outs in one decade?
it's better for the environment, and stuff?

[Lerian]

Add/remove programs and uninstall what you don't use.

Then there's UWT.

Then there's privacy.sexy

And then there's the group policy editor which you can play with.

Finally there are a lot of registry hacks that you can use to do almost anything you want. The key is to know what you want, and have a google/chatgpt connected device at hand. Good luck!

[havran]

Given that the OP's signature indicates a system with 4 Gigs of RAM, maybe we should consider that this might be a laptop, and -- even if not -- that this is the system that the OP can afford. Some at KVR are much wealthier than others, but not everyone is.

Hmm, but on the other hand, the system indicated in the sig would probably not be upgradable to Windows 11. Maybe it's the sig that needs the upgrade, for starters.

[Pictus]

debloating and performance tweaks can be good for...

To achieve the lowest DPC as possible and less DPC spikes(audio clicks and pops).
Tweaking and removing the bloat GREAT benefits older more limited systems.
Sometimes it fixes problematic DPC spikes making the system able to proper
deal with real-time audio, many cases of modern/expensive PCs with DPC spikes
caused by the GPU. The default Windows behavior is to economize power even
on desktops, this is detrimental to real-time audio and can cause problems.
https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/ ... dows-audio
https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articl ... in-Windows

The fewer things we have running in the background, the faster it is.
Less things running in the background can also be more secure, it's one
less "door" to be exploited.

[DevonB]

Once upon a time, there was an OS called Windows 95. And if you were fortunate to have an audio card and run a DAW back in ye olden days, Windows 95 was bad. It was very bad. It did terrible things unless you tweaked it. And tweaked it. And tweaked it some more. Finally, Windows 95 became good. Then there was Windows 98. And it was also bad. Unless you also tweaked it. Ye Old Reaktor 3 would drop its CPU usage down dramatically by tweaking, and things were good again. Then came Windows XP. An lo and behold, things were getting better (because who the heck was actually going to install Windows ME after all that nonsense?) Some tweaks weren't bad, but not as necessary to rummage through your stash to find that tweak list like the Windows 98 days. Then came Windows 7, because we all (hopefully) skipped Windows disastrous Vista. And the tweaks magically were not needed anymore. It was the golden age of no longer needing tweaks, and the DAW users cheered at their luck! Windows continued to release OS's and their luck continued. The End.

[No_Use]

Hmm, but on the other hand, the system indicated in the sig would probably not be upgradable to Windows 11. Maybe it's the sig that needs the upgrade, for starters.

With some trickery pretty much anything can run Win 11.
I recently tried with my old Thinkpad T420 and it's surprisingly (to me) snappy.
On par or even better than Win 10 which I had running on it before.

[eLawnMust]

I was and am running Windows 10 and 11 with literally zero (0) so-called DAW optimizations and never had a single problem. When comparing my setup and benchmarks with other partners, colleagues, or even clients or what people online report, I have had pretty consistent results, just as any other machine out there.

What the f*** are you optimizing at or for? I have Ryzen 8700G and NVMe, RME sound card and I can run a shit ton of plugins even at 96khz, literally out of this world. Recording an absurd amount of tracks if needed. To be fair I could do the same back then at SandyBridge 2600k. I mean I don't remember any whatsoever issue related to performance.

So today with that in mind my setup is absurdly performant even with zero optimizations.

What are you guys recording a small city or something? Just what the hell are you doing so that you need some "daw optimization"?

I'll never forget an anecdote if you will. So I was with a good friend of mine. I helped him record some guitar tracks for a big-name producer. At the end of a session (in his studio) he asked me "What do you think about DAW optimizations on the OS level". My answer was "If your setup is properly configured no special customization is needed. Why you are asking me?" He said: that a big name (I am not going to use his name) said to me I should do it. Then my comment was: look. Next time when you are with him, ask him why does he "DAW optimizations" but ask him to explain what he is getting from that. Maybe we learn something.

So he did. And I asked him "And?"...and his answer was..." he told me he did it because someone else told him to do it"

Ok then.

Look guys Windows XP times are over. Windows 7 maybe some tweaks that helped with poor drivers. Today? Nahhh..

Windows XP is not over for me, that's all I use, using it right now... No security issues ever, under the radar, most efficient really... Never have or will buy a machine with windows 10-11 on it major shithole spyware OS... I DID however buy an old Dell D820 that some idiot somehow crammed windows 11 on it as first thing I did was reformat & put fresh XP on it... 4 GB RAM & starting up used 80% of that just idling checking when 11 was on it & that was with NOT connecting to internet which would've tanked it for sure... With XP I can run it on 256 MB RAM or more...

Windows 10-11 are so advanced they can't even run the old stuff...no good...

[havran]

Hmm, but on the other hand, the system indicated in the sig would probably not be upgradable to Windows 11. Maybe it's the sig that needs the upgrade, for starters.

With some trickery pretty much anything can run Win 11.
I recently tried with my old Thinkpad T420 and it's surprisingly (to me) snappy.
On par or even better than Win 10 which I had running on it before.

Thank you. Good to know. I sit corrected.