Windows 10 optimization script - A community effort?

[AudioPhil]

Phil, all we have for comparison is this one, above. Larry (lmitche) has used it in combination with glowing praise but I don't find where his real results are any better than mine, obviously not in a sound comparison.

 

I don't hold any grudge, your an outstanding contributor and industrial audiophile participant here. I just can't buy something that doesn't have any real concrete comparisons/reviews against a self optimized Windows 10. Obviously you don't know how good my sound is, as I don't know whether AO would bring anything further to the table.

I will say that my system sounds fantastic and really the only upgrade I can see needed is an isolation transformer, which I'm even questioning the need.

 

Other folks not wanting to tinker with Windows themselves should go right ahead and get AO.

 

Hi ElviaCaprice

 

 

Well thanks a lot for the flowers. Since the focus here is on Windows 10, i can add this to the comparison. This also partially covers the other question about the significant differences. It's a new review about AO on Windows 10 by Steven Plaskin of audiostream.com -> AudiophileOptimizer | AudioStream

 

Best,

AudioPhil

[lmitche]

Phil, all we have for comparison is this one, above. Larry (lmitche) has used it in combination with glowing praise but I don't find where his real results are any better than mine, obviously not in a sound comparison.

 

I don't hold any grudge, your an outstanding contributor and industrial audiophile participant here. I just can't buy something that doesn't have any real concrete comparisons/reviews against a self optimized Windows 10. Obviously you don't know how good my sound is, as I don't know whether AO would bring anything further to the table.

I will say that my system sounds fantastic and really the only upgrade I can see needed is an isolation transformer, which I'm even questioning the need.

 

Other folks not wanting to tinker with Windows themselves should go right ahead and get AO.

ElviaCaprice, I don't think Phil is claiming that AO is doing something that can't be done by someone else without AO. Anything that Phil can do can be duplicated by others. Your statements also imply that you believe that tweaking Windows will improvement sound quality. My experience supports this claim.

 

But, I am not claiming that after applying AO and applying my own "proprietary" tweaks that my sound quality is better then that achieved by your efforts in your home. I will never make such a claim until I have heard your system. Even then, it would be extremely difficult to separate the benefit of your windows tweaks from other hardware and software choices made in assembling your system.

 

Having said these things there are still huge benefits to be gained for audiophiles that purchase AO.

 

First off, a vast majority of people don't know Windows OS internals and are not capable and confident in tweaking an operating system. These people will greatly benefit from AO and have few if any other alternatives.

 

For those that do know Windows internals, one has a choice, DIY or start with AO and tweak from there. I make the second choice as I don't think I can create another container that can compete with the thousands of tweaks Phil has collected within AO. One, I am unlikely to duplicate everything Phil has learned. Two, building this kinda thing takes a lot of time and my time is precious, therefore paying Phil to do this seems like a deal to me.

 

From there I add my own special sauce, most of which is shared here.

 

The results are stunningly good.

 

Larry

[Miracle1980]

Hi guys, I finally managed to get my Windows 10 stripped down with network working (I need it for remote control).

I currently have under task manager: 23 processes (including the 2 for Jriver), about 300 threads and 6500 handles.

Do you think that it's a good result or it's possible to reduce even more the amount of processes/threads?

 

Thanks

[rickca]

Miracle1980, that sounds like a fantastic result, and I'd like to know more about how you did it. On my Windows 10 (Version 1607) system, I have 16 svchost processes alone so how you manage to wind up with only 23 processes is certainly of interest.

[rickca]

Meanwhile it's quite a few tenthousand lines of code, but i'll try to give an overview withing the next days. Sorry that it will take some time to do so.

Phil, it sounds like you're planning to do considerably more than I've asked. I just wanted you to identify a couple of significant AO optimizations that haven't been covered by the posts in this thread. If you think an overview will be more compelling and it's a good investment of your time, then great. I have read your Setup Guide, so I've reviewed that level of detail.

 

I certainly acknowledge the value AO delivers by putting all of this together into one product, testing it thoroughly and maintaining/supporting it. That's a pretty awesome achievement.

[Miracle1980]

Miracle1980, that sounds like a fantastic result, and I'd like to know more about how you did it. On my Windows 10 (Version 1607) system, I have 16 svchost processes alone so how you manage to wind up with only 23 processes is certainly of interest.

 

The "trick" is that I started from an already stripped down version of Windows 10 (you can find it on Google as lite sasnet) and then manually I disabled the unwanted services.

If you want, tomorrow (it's late night here) I can send you the list of the services that I left enabled. But if you start from that lite base... It should be easy to have only 25/30 processes running.

[lmitche]

The "trick" is that I started from an already stripped down version of Windows 10 (you can find it on Google as lite sasnet) and then manually I disabled the unwanted services.

If you want, tomorrow (it's late night here) I can send you the list of the services that I left enabled. But if you start from that lite base... It should be easy to have only 25/30 processes running.

That's cool. How does the license key work with the Windows 10 versions?

[Miracle1980]

That one is a trial version (30 days). Then you have to buy a license for Win10 pro or use serial from your notebook/desktop, if you already have one.

[ElviaCaprice]

I've got it down to about 250 threads, 25 processes, 6450 threads. Here is a list of services that can be disabled. Just open services (can do in task manager on services page at the bottom of the page, open services). Outline each service, right click for properties. Disable. Found this list on YouTube.

 

Windows 10 Services Disabled.

 

1. AllJoyn Router Service

2. Application Layer Gateway Service

3. Bluetooth Support Service

4. BranchCache

5. Certificate Propagation

6. CNG Key Isolation

7.

8. DMWAPPUSHSVC

9. Downloaded Maps Manager

10. Diagnostic Tracking Services - (Windows Phone home tracking service also called Telemetry)

11. Geolocation Service

12. HomeGroup Listener

13. HomeGroup Provider

14. Hyper-V Data Exchange Service

15. Hyper-V Guest Service Interface

16. Hyper-V Guest Shutdown Service

17. Hyper-V Heartbeat Service

18. Hyper-V Remote Desktop Virtualization Service

19. Hyper-V Time Synchronization Service

20. Hyper-V VM Session Service

21. Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Requestor

22. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

23. Internet Explorer ETW Collector Service

24. IP Helper

25. Microsoft ® Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector Service

26. Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service

27. Microsoft Windows SMS Router Service

28. Netlogon

29. Offline Files

30. Print Spooler (leave enabled if you want to use printer)

31. Printer Extensions and Notifications

32. Remote Access Auto Connection Manager

33. Remote Access Connection Manager

34. Remote Desktop Configuration

35. Remote Desktop Services

36. Remote Desktop Services UserMode Port Director

37. Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator

38. Remote Registry

39. Retail Demo Service

40. Routing and Remote Access

41. Sensor Data Service

42. Sensor Monitoring Service

43. Sensor Service

44. Smart Card Device Enumeration Service

45. Smart Card Removal Policy

46. SNMP Trap

47. Storage Service

48. Superfetch

49. SSDP Discovery

50. Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service

51. Windows Biometric Service

52. Windows Connect Now - Config Registrar

53. Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

54. Windows Mobile Hotspot Service

55. Windows Remote Management (WS-Management)

56. Windows Font Cache Service.

57. Workstation

58. Xbox Live Auth Manager

59. Xbox Live Game Save

60. XboxNetApiSvc

[lmitche]

Nice! What's your memory usage?

[rickca]

Disabling a service that isn't running will not reduce my number of processes/threads/handles, correct? If you never use a given service, why bother disabling it? There must be something I don't understand.

 

Here's another question. If I have way more memory than I need, why worry about my memory usage?

 

My focus is on unnecessary processor usage and I/O. For example, there are a bunch of poorly documented scheduled tasks that you can't disable like Background Upload Task, Backup Task and NetworkStateChangeTask (all under Microsoft/Windows/SettingSync). You can export the task and look at the XML but it still doesn't give me much insight into what they really do. I've found a way to disable tasks like these but I'm not entirely comfortable with changing the permissions.

http://www.1hd.biz/2015/07/windows-7-8-81-10-disable-stubborn.html

[ElviaCaprice]

Nice! What's your memory usage?

 

With JRiver open and playing, can vary since it loads the whole track to memory. Without JRiver open, just task manager, 600mb of memory, 250 threads, 5900 handles, 22 processes.

 

I've got to say, every time I tweak it changes the sound signature? That mobo is so touchy to electrical currents. The HD Plex isn't ideal, nor is the mobo, in general. The power grid is lousy down here, electrical current/noise can vary just from the time of day. An isolation transformer is badly needed here to try to stabilize things.

[lmitche]

I'm have similar numbers here with HQplayer loaded. Thanks Larry

[AudioPhil]

Disabling a service that isn't running will not reduce my number of processes/threads/handles, correct? If you never use a given service, why bother disabling it? There must be something I don't understand.

 

Here's another question. If I have way more memory than I need, why worry about my memory usage?

 

My focus is on unnecessary processor usage and I/O. For example, there are a bunch of poorly documented scheduled tasks that you can't disable like Background Upload Task, Backup Task and NetworkStateChangeTask (all under Microsoft/Windows/SettingSync). You can export the task and look at the XML but it still doesn't give me much insight into what they really do. I've found a way to disable tasks like these but I'm not entirely comfortable with changing the permissions.

1HD.BIZ - Best Real Deals: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 - Disable the stubborn scheduled tasks "BackgroundUploadTask", "Metadata Refresh", "IntegrityCheck"

If a service isn't running and also isn't disabled, it might (and will) start on demand. Thats the last you want.

[blue2]

Has anyone compared stock W10 with Intona/USB over fibre/other galvanic isolation versus W10 optimised? Just wondering if galvanic isolation is a better solution?

[rickca]

V1.0 of BlackBird will soon be available (current version is v0.9.98). I think this is the most comprehensive tool short of AO. Check out the documentation and changelog at Get Blackbird - Windows privacy, security and performance. The developer posts the latest news on http://www.facebook.com/getblackbird.

[Dicky]

V1.0 of BlackBird will soon be available (current version is v0.9.98). I think this is the most comprehensive tool short of AO.

 

Thanks so much for this. It's too late at night for me to play at a level where I can hear any sonic benefits, but this has cured a host of ills I was experiencing from a Win 7 to Win 10 upgrade I made last night.

[bogi]

Lastly I set HQPlayer to run in realtime priority. Kinda a PITA at each boot, but worth the 30 seconds it takes to execute.

 

You can do it from admin cmd context this way:

wmic process where name="HQPlayer-desktop.exe" CALL setpriority "Realtime"

 

You create a .bat script from that 1 line and you can create a shortcut to that batch script. Then you can set Run as Administrator in the shortcut properties.

[lmitche]

You can do it from admin cmd context this way:

wmic process where name="HQPlayer-desktop.exe" CALL setpriority "Realtime"

 

You create a .bat script from that 1 line and you can create a shortcut to that batch script. Then you can set Run as Administrator in the shortcut properties.

Thanks Bogi!

[chauphuong]

I created a batch file for Foobar2k to always run in realtime priority like this, but it did not work.

[bogi]

I created a batch file for Foobar2k to always run in realtime priority like this, but it did not work.

 

It works for me ... you have to run it in elevated admin environment, otherwise the max. priority which can be set this way is High - not Realtime. So you have to use shortcut with "Run as Administrator" option, or alternatively, you can use elevate command in a script.

 

Maybe you need some delay between f2k startup and setting the process priority. For example this will cause 2 sec delay:

timeout /t 2

[chauphuong]

It works for me ... you have to run it in elevated admin environment, otherwise the max. priority which can be set this way is High - not Realtime. So you have to use shortcut with "Run as Administrator" option, or alternatively, you can use elevate command in a script.

 

Maybe you need some delay between f2k startup and setting the process priority. For example this will cause 2 sec delay:

timeout /t 2

 

Hi Bogi. Did everything to no avail. Finally an app named Process Lasso did it. Besides setting permanent realtime, Process Lassoalso helps boost SQ in other ways. Try it.

[rickca]

I installed Windows 10 Creator's Update today.

 

First thing you will notice is an increase of about 45 svchost windows processes, since most services that used to share an svchost have been broken out into their own svchost process.  This is on a vanilla system not running AO.

There are also some new background processes like InstallAgent and InstallAgentUserBroker, Windows Defender Notification Icon and Windows Defender Security Center Service.

 

getBlackBird v1.0 (currently scheduled for end of April) should include Creator's Update support.  Betas will be available in the interim.

[lmitche]

6 hours ago, rickca said:

I installed Windows 10 Creator's Update today.

 

First thing you will notice is an increase of about 45 svchost windows processes, since most services that used to share an svchost have been broken out into their own svchost process.  This is on a vanilla system not running AO.

There are also some new background processes like InstallAgent and InstallAgentUserBroker, Windows Defender Notification Icon and Windows Defender Security Center Service.

 

getBlackBird v1.0 (currently scheduled for end of April) should include Creator's Update support.  Betas will be available in the interim.

Rick, Thanks for the update!

[rickca]

Actually, InstallAgent and InstallAgentUserBroker are not new.  They are related to the Windows Store.  I forgot that the Creator's Update brings some new Store apps that I have to get rid of like Paint 3D.  It's a never ending battle to keep MS out of my business.