On-Air Machine Tweaks (Simian)

BSI recommends the following computer tweaks for your on-air machine. These tweaks are applicable to Windows 7 Pro and up.

• Notification Area Icons
  • Check Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar
  • Click Turn system icons on or off → Action Center = Off
• Power Options
  • High Performance
  • Turn off the display: Never
  • Put the computer to sleep: Never
  • Change Plan Settings → Change Advanced Power Settings
    • Require a password on wakeup → Setting: No.
    • Hard Disk → Turn off Hard Disk after → Setting: Never.
    • USB Settings → USB Selective suspend setting → Setting: Disabled.
    • Power buttons and lid → sleep button action → Setting: Do Nothing.
• Regional and Language Options
  • Formats tab
    • Short Date: MM/dd/yyyy.
    • Long Date: MMMM dd, yyyy.
• Sound
  • Playback tab
    • Select last device of first audio card and click the Set Default button.
  • Recording tab
    • Select last device of first audio card and click the Set Default button.
  • Sounds tab
    • Sound Scheme: No Sounds.
    • Deselect Play Windows Startup Sound
  • Communications tab
    • When Windows detects communications activity Do Nothing
• System
  • Advanced tab → Startup and Recovery
    • System Startup → Select Time to display recovery options when needed.
  • Remote tab → Remote Assistance
    • Deselect Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer.
• Windows Defender
  • Tools → Options → Administrator → Deselect Use this program.
• Windows Firewall
  • Turn Windows Firewall On or Off
    • Home or work(private) network location settings → Turn off Windows Firewall
    • Public network location settings → Turn off Windows Firewall
• Visual Effects
  • Control Panel → Performance Information and Tools → Adjust visual effects → Visual Effects tab→ Adjust for Best Performance
  • Check Smooth Edges for Screen Fonts
• Time Sync
  • Control Panel → Date and Time → Internet Time Tab→ UNCHECK Automatically Synchronize with an Internet Time Server.
• Network (if using network file sharing)
  • Start button → enter Network and Sharing Center in the “Search for programs and files” → click the Network and Sharing Center link at the top → Click Change Advanced Sharing Settings on the left hand side → choose Turn off password protected sharing radio button under Password protected sharing category → click on Save Changes
• Auto Defrag
  • Start button → enter dfrgui in the “Search for programs and files” → click the dfrgui.exe link at the top → Click Configure Schedule → Uncheck Run on a schedule
• Turn off UAC
  • Start button → enter UAC in the “Search for programs and files” → click the Change User Account Control Settings link at the top → Lower bar to Never Notify → Click OK
• Windows Updates
  • Start button → enter Windows Updates in the “Search for programs and files” → click the Change Settings on the left pane → Set to Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them→ Click OK