Your DAW comes
fully tweaked for music production. As you may already know Windows XP is
quite bloated when you first get it. The services that are not needed for
music are disabled and ones needed to optimize performance for music
production and intensive hard disk recording are enabled. With this DAW
workstation there is no need to make any adjustments. Simply unpack this
dream machine, install your software and start making music. I have tested
this computer with ProTools 7, Nuendo 3, Cubase SX3, SONAR 6, Reason 3, FL
Studio 6, Melodyne 3 and many of the major plug-ins and virtual instruments
on the market.

Two levels of tweaking are offered, and of course can
always be configured at your request:

Level 1 – Tweaked with some things left on (not recommended
for ultimate performance)

• Windows Theming disabled:  You are probably familiar
  with Windows theming, the blue task bar, folder backgrounds, fancy icons. 
  This eye candy, although neat to look at, will drag down the machine.  You
  will save RAM and CPU cycles by disabling this
• All other unnecessary services disabled:  Windows XP
  stock comes with many services (background processes) that are not
  necessary for most computing purposes.  Some of these things are COM+
  events service (database driver – not used unless you are manipulating
  databases), fast user switching, faxing service, error reporting (when
  program crashes it will internally generate an error report and ask you to
  send it to +Microsoft for diagnostics – this is unnecessary and eats up
  RAM), messenger service, routing and remote access, etc.

Level 2 – Tweaked to the max, all unnecessary services
are turned off. Everything in Level 1, plus the following:

• Windows system restore:  This allows you to restore
  your system in case things you awry,  this however is very memory and hard
  drive intensive and may interfere when recording say a 16 track take. 
  Turning this off will improve performance drastically.
• Windows automatic updates: Even though it is nice to
  stay up to date on your windows install – this service will poll
  Microsoft.com regularly to find out if new patches are available, if they
  are available it will download and install them.  If this happens while
  recording, it can cause hiccups. 
• Disable network card:  If you've been reading up on
  DAW computers one of the most commonly mentioned things is that a DAW
  computer should only function as a DAW computer.  To ensure the system
  stays in it's optimal shape, it is wise not to browse the Internet on your
  DAW as often you will bring in Spyware/Adware that will slow the machine
  down drastically.  Also, with the network card turned off, no viruses or
  malware can be transferred to your machine.
• Windows firewall:  Since the network card will be
  disabled, this service is unnecessary
• Print spooler:  This saves on RAM and CPU cycle as it
  will not poll for printer information regularly.  Keep in mind, this will
  prevent you from hooking up a printer to the computer and printing.

Level 2 – Tweaked to the max, all unnecessary services
are turned off. Everything in Level 1, plus the following:

• Windows system restore:  This allows you to restore
  your system in case things you awry,  this however is very memory and hard
  drive intensive and may interfere when recording say a 16 track take. 
  Turning this off will improve performance drastically.
• Windows automatic updates: Even though it is nice to
  stay up to date on your windows install – this service will poll
  Microsoft.com regularly to find out if new patches are available, if they
  are available it will download and install them.  If this happens while
  recording, it can cause hiccups. 
• Disable network card:  If you've been reading up on
  DAW computers one of the most commonly mentioned things is that a DAW
  computer should only function as a DAW computer.  To ensure the system
  stays in it's optimal shape, it is wise not to browse the Internet on your
  DAW as often you will bring in Spyware/Adware that will slow the machine
  down drastically.  Also, with the network card turned off, no viruses or
  malware can be transferred to your machine.
• Windows firewall:  Since the network card will be
  disabled, this service is unnecessary
• Print spooler:  This saves on RAM and CPU cycle as it
  will not poll for printer information regularly.  Keep in mind, this will
  prevent you from hooking up a printer to the computer and printing.