XXX 0 Posted July 17, 2006 I won't sell a client anything but a dedicated computer to act as a DVR. I try to set it up to work as efficiently as possible. Here are some of the things I do. Any other suggestions to make the DVR work better? - Remove all "demo" programs and all other programs that are not used to run or view the system. - Change XP properties to "highest performance". Basically gets rid of all the pretty GUI stuff. - Remove all windows components that aren't needed, "i.e. outlook express, messenger, MSN, etc.) - Turn off screen saver - Set computer to "always on". - Defrag hard drive if needed. I'm sure there's more but I wanted to see what else you all do to increase effectiveness and performance of the system. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kensplace 0 Posted July 17, 2006 Regular maintainence, cleaning - its suprising how fast the cooling system on a pc gets clogged up with dust, reducing its effectiveness dramatically. Sort out a policy on security updates, are you going to let it auto-update, and hope microsoft gets it right? Are you going to install them manually when proven safe? What about anti-virus, if the machine has a drive, or usb ports, and people have access to it then they may run software on it, plus if its connected to the internet then av and firewall need to be spot on. Stop any un-needed services on XP, such as fast disk indexing, etc, quick google search will reveal lots of services that you can probably stop (obviously each user has different needs), and any you stop will help to free ram and processor time. Get rid of any desktop wallpaper, use classic start menu, install a free-memory utility to clean up the memory when it leaks, schedule scandisk to run at startup. Fire up task manager, research what every running process is doing, and if any dont need to be running, then stop them from starting in the first place. Make sure all devices drivers are the latest (stable and proven) version. Turn off anything that you dont use in the BIOS, such as spare ports, and on board hardware that is not used. Check ALL bios settings, especially for memory and processor to make sure they are set to best (stable) performance, and check bios is latest version. Make sure the end user is backing stuff up, and the master software is kept safe, so when it does fail, which it will, they have backups, and a easy way to get back up and running. Delete temporary files on a regular basis (they can build up very fast), if need be write a batch file to delete them at startup. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted July 18, 2006 http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=36977#36977 http://www.bahamassecurity.com/uploads/XP-TWEAKING.pdf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mcs 0 Posted August 24, 2006 * Dont use Windows, LOL run msconfig also to remove stuff thats not needed, change pw to MASTER and dont allow customer access, geo has to come up with a way to save the client having to log in to burn to cd/dvd and not allow access to the desktop the linux systems I have seen MEA in aus build are sweet NO desktop no nothing purley a pc based dvr.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 24, 2006 the linux systems I have seen MEA in aus build are sweet NO desktop no nothing purley a pc based dvr.... no features we use them here also .. well i dont but ive tested them. I can get you a no desktop version for windows also... i wrote my own shells for that (no explorer, nothing) .. user cant touch windows at all .. admin has to log out then back into the Explorer shell .. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
