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WINDOWS

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CONTROL PANEL

To access Windows 10 Anniversary (1607) Control Panel, right click on Windows Start and select Control Panel.  
To access Windows 10 Creator Update (since 1703) Control Panel, type "control panel" in Windows Search box.  
You can right click on the control panel icon from the search result and pin it to the Start menu or Taskbar.  
For ease of use, it is recommended to set the Control Panel to Small Icons.

Disable Windows User Account Control (UAC)

User Accounts > Change User Account Control settings > set it to Never notify. > OK.

View hidden files, folders and drives and show file extensions in Windows Explorer

File Explorer Options > View tab :
Hidden files and folders : set it to Show hidden files, folders or drives
Hide empty drives : disable
Hide extensions for known file types : disable
Leave Hide protected operating system files (recommended) active

System > Advanced System Settings

Advanced tab > Performance

Click on the Settings button in the Performance section.

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Those settings have to be disabled to prevent system peaks:
Animate Windows when minimizing and maximizing : disable
Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu : disable
Enable Peek : disable
Fade or slide menus / ToolTips into view : disable
Save taskbar thumbnail previews : disable
Show translucent selection rectangle: disable
Show window content while dragging: disable
Slide open Combo boxes: disable
A dedicated graphic card is highly recommended for advanced display configuration, including video or Mixer  window in Pyramix, Ovation or VCube.

WINDOWS SETTINGS

Settings page can be accessed through Windows Start > Settings icon (and  + i)

System

• (Spring Creator) Display > Graphic settings : graphic performances can be configured per application.
  Select "Classic App" and browse to C:/Program Files/Merging Technologies.
  Add Pyramix.exe - Ovation.exe - VCube.exe depending on your configuration.
  Then select the application(s) and click on Options, set the graphics preference to High Performance.
• In Notifications & actions, you can configure which quick action tile and notification will be displayed.
  Merging recommends to only have “All settings” & “Network” tiles active.
  In the Notifications section, you can configure how and which application can send Notifications.
  Merging recommends to disable the “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows” for better performance.
• Focus assist can be configured to remove several Windows notifications. (Windows 10 Spring Creator)
• Multitasking : Merging recommends to set all Snap options to off, especially for computers not using dedicated graphic cards.
  Switching between Virtual desktops is not recommended during real time operation.
  In the Timeline section, Merging recommends you disable the "show suggestions occasionally in the timeline". (Spring Creator)
• Remote desktop : since Spring Creator update, remote desktop is disabled by default.

Personalization

Windows transparency can cause issues, especially on systems with low graphic resources.
Go in Settings > Personalization > Colors.
Turn "Make Start, taskbar, and action center transparent" or "Transparency effects" to Off.
Start menu, Taskbar and notification area can be configured in Settings > Personalization > Start and Taskbar.
Merging recommends to disable the “Occasionally show suggestions in start” option for the Start menu (to prevent Windows downloading apps without notifications).
In the Taskbar section, disable the "Use Peek to preview the desktop ...." 

(Since Fall Creator) You may disable the People icon in the taskbar through Windows Settings > Personnalization > Taskbar > Show contacts on the taskbar : Off.

Apps & Features

In Apps and features, uninstall all unnecessary applications.
(In Windows 10 Anniversary 1607, Apps are only accessible through Settings > System)
Some applications cannot be uninstalled (Mail and Calendar for example), uninstall button will be disabled.
Bonjour is required for Merging products, do not uninstall it.
Merging recommends you uninstall Xbox Live (Fall Creator and following).
You may also remove Feedback Hub, Get Office, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Paid Wifi&Mobile, Print3D (Fall Creator), Skype and Tips.
In Default apps, Merging recommends you set Google Chrome as your default web browser (RAVENNA users).
Click on Web Browser to select Google Chrome (it must be installed before changing this setting).
Startup : Please do not disable RTX64Bootcheck (RTX3.4 RTX64 System Tray can be disabled).

Privacy

In Account info, it is recommended to set "Let apps use my advertising ID ...." to off, to reduce the OS internet traffic.
In Background Apps, Merging recommends you only enable the required apps for better performance.
(Since Fall Creator) Merging recommends you disable the "Show me suggested content in the Settings app" in the General Tab.
(Spring Creator) In Activity history, Merging recommends you disable both "Let Windows collect my activities from this PC" and  "Let Windows sync my activities from this PC to the cloud"
(Spring Creator) In File System, "Allow Apps to access your file system" has to be turned on (default).

Gaming (Since Creator Update)

In Game Bar, set "Record game clips, screenshots..." to off, and disable "Open Game bar ..." and "Show Game bar when I play ..."
In Game DVR, set both "Background recording" and "Recorded Audio" to off.
In Game Mode, set "Use Game Mode" to off. 
(Fall Creator) In TruePlay, set "True Play" to off.

ADDITIONAL CONFIGURATIONS

OneDrive configuration / uninstall

If you use OneDrive, you should configure it to not interfere in the network traffic.
Right click on the OneDrive icon   in the notification area and select Settings.
Remove "Start OneDrive Automatically when I sign to Windows" and "Display notifications when people share with me or edit my shared files".
In the Network tab, set both Upload and Download rates to Limit to : 125 KB/s (or lower).
If you don't use OneDrive, you may uninstall it in Windows Settings > System > Apps and features.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION (MSCONFIG)

Many installed programs have associated background services, which usually can then start faster, or get updates automatically.  But this uses memory and CPU power, so you should only run useful programs.

!!!Be careful, if you remove an essential program or service, Windows may not start anymore !!!
Windows Control Panel > Administrative Tools > System Configuration:
The boot menu timeout can be changed in the Boot tab (min 3 seconds).

Services Tab

Check the box Hide all Microsoft services, those are critical for Windows.
Service Bonjour is critical for RAVENNA networks and Virtual Transport.
Do not disable your graphic card and ASIO card driver or service.
Common services that can be disabled are: printer services, Skype, QuickTime updaters ...

Startup

Open the link to Task Manager to access the list.
Do not disable Microsoft Windows Operating System or any other critical driver – program for your system.

Common programs that can be disabled are Adobe Reader, Java updater, Skype, QuickTime...
Those programs will be still be installed and accessible, but will not be loaded during Windows startup.

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