Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Startup Apps for Laptop Loopers - streamline performance, etc



This topic has been discussed before, but I wanted to share my latest findings. As you XP computer users know, when Windows starts it loads a lot of processes, drivers, apps, services, etc that aren't all necessary all of the time. Many of these use some processing power, but it usually shows as more of a memory drain if you do a control-alt-delete, go to Task Manager, and look at the memory usage in the processes tab. For instance, the main memory hoggers on my ThinkPad are DiskManager, Norton Anti-Virus, and a few others ThinkPad maintenance apps.  In addition, I've read a number of computer recording articles that suggest that the wireless network turned on can cause issues on some computers and apps, causing crashes, clicking, etc. In fact, I experienced this exact issue with ProTools/mBox a few years ago, where if the wireless network was on, but could not find an accesspoint, it would cause ProTools to crash. Bizarre. And I recently read in the max/msp forum that this could cause clicking with some recording apps and sound cards.
 
Amway, there are a number of methods that folks use to prevent some of these above mentioned processes and apps from launching at startup. Some of us, including myself in the past, have used msconfig (you just run this from Start and Run). You can deselect any of these and prevent them from running at startup. However, I recently read in some tech forums that msconfig is recommended primarily for testing, troubleshooting, etc...not as a permanent solution to altering your startup process. The claim is that this is not an efficient way to end the processes and does so incompletely. Then, another tech forum suggests that instead of msconfig, you should be using "services.msc". It is a more efficient and clean way to go in and end the processes safely. However, that app is a little awkward to use.  I also recall another solution, that I've tried, but scares the hell out of me, where you make changes to your startup process, save your MS registry file (go into Start, Run, and "regedit"), and do this for your different configurations. Then you load the registry file you want, and reboot to get that configuration. I don't recommend this, though it seemed to work. At the time, it did some weird things to my system like generate duplicate entry lines in my startup processes.  Moreover, I read enough negative comments on these other methods to disuade me from using them. I am very protective of my computer and don't like messing with things unless I know it is safe and stable.
 
Over a year ago, I started using AutoRuns, linked below. It has gained a lot of attention and is even linked from the Microsoft technet site. You launch this program and it basically shows you everything that is running on your system. You can easily de-select what you want, save, and then when you reboot, those processes do not start. I have had great luck with this program. Another program is similar, which is ServiWin. It is so similar, that I just use AutoRuns now. My major complaint about these two program, however, is that you can't save multiple configurations (much in the same way that you can't save a msconfig setting). Rather, if you want to switch back and forth between your streamlined startup and your normal setup (for web browsing, etc), you have remember which processes you unchecked in the app, and then re-uncheck them again, save, and then re-boot. It's sort of a pain, but the ease of use of AutoRuns in general is enough for me to keep using it. I only disable 10-15 processes, so I can easily remember which ones.
 
Here are the links to these programs:
 
 
So, essentially, the process I use to startup into my music performance/looping configuration, is that I use AutoRuns to remove Diskkeeper, anything from Semantic AntiVirus (the main memory/process hogger), and a handful of ThinkPad apps like the system update manager, etc. Then I go into my network connections and disable my wireless and LAN networks. Then I reboot. All is good.
 
I would be curious to know what other folks are using. Has anyone found an app like AutoRuns that allows you to save multiple configurations? I actually wrote the developer of AutoRuns requesting this feature, but the response was that they had no plans for this. It doesn't make sense to me. It would be so easy to mod that program so that you just load a new AutoRuns configuration, save, and then reboot.
 
Kris