Tiny XP and other stripped down Windows OS

[NRS]

Anyone ever try Windows TinyXP, MicroXP or any other stripped down version of Windows? If so, what did you think? Any conflicts with any recording software? Was your performance boost significant?

For those who don't know TinyXP is a modified copy of Windows XP that cuts out a lot of unnecessary programs, eye candy, and background system processes that hog up your PC resources resulting in a faster leaner operating system. The buzz is that this type of OS was originally geared for gaming PC's (which is why I think recording apps would also benefit), but current versions have been tweaked for all purpose use as well.

NOTE: TinyXP and similar programs are NOT legal copy's of Windows and can only be obtained via torrent download which I am not condoning here, however, the exact same results can be legally achieved with your own legit Windows installation via free programs like TweakUI, SparkleXP, and Nlite (just Google them). In that case it would still be good to at least read up on TinyXP as a reference point for such modification.

 

[altitude909]

i never saw any significant gains, just problems with stuff being forced to an off state. The best thing is just to go system properties/advanced/performance and set it to max

 

[johnnymegabyte]

i never saw any significant gains, just problems with stuff being forced to an off state. The best thing is just to go system properties/advanced/performance and set it to max

Turn OFF features you don't need, and MAX setting you do need.

Start with the BIOS ( F2 - Setup ) to fine-tuning Windows settings, like Paging, remove Screensavers and Desktop pictures.
Try to stick the most RAM you can in your PC.

 

[buckkillr8]

i never saw any significant gains, just problems with stuff being forced to an off state. The best thing is just to go system properties/advanced/performance and set it to max

This alone won't do much. The best guide I've seen and personally use is this one.

http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ts/detail.php?Index=30058

The biggest is following the "startup services/apps" section. That alone can uncripple a PC. Setting your CPU scheduling to "background services" is another biggie as ASIO drivers run as background services.

 

[mattr]

I use a stripped-down version of XP which I modified myself using nlite.
Its very easy to do and better because you can chose exactly what you remove. I also slipstreamed all the drivers my computer and interface need onto it so there's nothing much left to do once its installed (helpful if I ever have to reinstall which hopefully won't be for a while, but if I do then it will be more of a 'recovery disk' than a clean wipe).

http://www.nliteos.com/

 

[NRS]

XPMyths

I'm not quite up to speed yet on what all the best XPtweaks are (which is why someone else's turnkey version like TinyXP seemed attractive) but I hear if you disable some of the wrong processes it can actually slow your PC down so I'll want to read up a bit more on it before too much experimentation.

Thanks for that Sweetwater link Buckiller8

A good site I also stumbled on recently on properly optimizing Windows is here: http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/XPMyths.html

What I have had a really hard time finding anywhere on the net though is solid benchmark results for any of these tweaks. To say they just "improve performance" isn't enough without having at least some ballpark idea of just how much. To me, a modest 5-10% increase overall would be too little to even bother. A potential 20-30% increase or more however would really begin to raise a brow.

 

[buckkillr8]

For recording any percentage is a benefit. In regards to the process's though. Turning something off that shouldn't be will only not allow something to run that was needed that. The best approach is using what I did above. As mostly only the MS stuff will need to stay. But worst case is you just go back and allow a certain process to run and your good as new.

 

[jasonbmerrill]

there is an extremely marginal gain, at the expense of possible performance ISSUES and incompatibilities.

DONT do it.

its NOT worth it, unless you are running a 233 mhz mmx pentium

 

[Whale Bone]

This alone won't do much. The best guide I've seen and personally use is this one.

http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ts/detail.php?Index=30058

The biggest is following the "startup services/apps" section. That alone can uncripple a PC. Setting your CPU scheduling to "background services" is another biggie as ASIO drivers run as background services.

Great tip. Thanks. I just finally got my machine to stop periodic dropouts in Sonar on one my more complicated projects. I already use the Classic theme, but I killed a bunch of other visual stuff, set cpu usage to background, memory to programs and decided to give no paging file a try (I have 3GB RAM). Everything's working great. I use the machine for other stuff, so I left the A/V and the firewall up.

XP Pro SP3, Pentium D 2.80GHz, 3GB

Thanks again.