Performance drop

For some reason my mix down PC has become very sluggish. Mostly on internet stuff, but even the cursor in wave lab skips, have had an audio dropout out or click. Something is in there slowing everything down.

I've tryed all the usual things like defragging, deleating temp files ect. Could it be a virus, or is there something else I could check? Mark?

Jeremy,
#1 - How much room do you have left on your recording/music drive ? if the drive is nearing capacity it will slow down regardless of fragmentation.
#2 - Have you checked your audio buffers ? Have they changed ? Have you tried changing them ? They shouldn't change by themselves, but drivers can do funny things sometimes..........
#3 - I find that I need to set the buffers differently in wavelab than I do in my multitrack program ( Cubase SX )...........
#4 - If you don't already have a removeable drive caddy for your harddrive get one now.......it makes changing out drive so easy........ Good Luck

Have you checked your system resources percentage? If you have too many applications that start up automatically, it will dramatically degrade performance. What operating system are you running? Also, make sure that none of your drives are running in msdos compatibility mode.
These can be checked in the system properties folder.

Just some simple things to check.
Jim K.

Well i'm thinking it's a good time to get another computer. This is an old PIII 450 i've had forever. I only use it for mixdown, internet, artwork ect, no multi tracking.

I havn't changed buffers in WL, it's the whole system that seems bogged down. The drive has plenty of space. I suspect it's a backround program slowing things down. Sinse 've gotton cable internet, it's like the wild west, programs get installed on my computer without me knowing it.

Whoa. I'd be very careful about letting anything get installed without your knowing it, in fact I'd make sure to turn off automatic updating (if that's what you're talking about and you're not just kidding).

Jeremy,
To see what is running in the background, press
"control, alt, delete" at the same time.
A drain on your system resources can happen in Win98 even if you have 512meg of ram. Win98 only allocates a fixed portion of ram to it's system resources. You can have a bunch of ram and it makes no difference.
Jim K.

Jeremy, are you sure it's not the "Return of the Dung Beetles"?

Jeremy, seeing as how it worked fine before, something has changed to affect performance. Have you installed any new hardware or software lately? Anything? Updated any drivers?

While there's always the possibility that you picked up some spyware off a website that is eating computing cycles, these things usually don't slow down overall system performance that much. A good test of this is to boot your PC, then go right to Wavelab without launching any internet software first. If Wavelab is still hiccupping, then it can't be spyware causing it.

I would venture to guess that you installed something new lately, and the driver(s) for it are slowing everything down. If you have installed anything new, visit the manufacturer's website and download the very latest drivers.

Either way, I strongly advise everybody who uses any version of Windows to regularly visit http://www.windowsupdate.com. Hackers are finding new ways everyday of making our lives miserable, and unless you protect your computer and yourself, you're just asking for trouble.

Using the studio computer for Internet and email access is a dangerous practice if you want the computer to be ready for a session at any time.

If your studio computer is never connected to the Internet, you a) avoid installing all the Internet programs and utilities; b) you never worry about viruses from the 'net; c) you update it when you need a new feature or bug fix, not just to install security fixes.

Computers are cheap enough that many can afford something to keep the two systems separate. If your studio computer is a vital tool, then you cannot afford to compromise it by using it as an Internet system.

Treat the studio computer as a valuable tool, and you'll think differently.

Just as a photographer doesn't bring his expensive camera to the beach for a few snapshots---because he can't risk not having the camera work properly for his job---you shouldn't treat the studio system as a general-purpose system.

If you have a Windows system hooked directly to a cable modem, chances are it's been attacked by the virus or worm du jour. Without a firewall, your system is likely open to any number of attacks.

I have a PIII 450 Mastering/Mixdown computer also. It will work fine for 2 track stuff. Keep it far away from internet connections, back up your data and wipe the hard drive, put XP on there, reinstall your audio software, and you should be golden! That way you won't need a new computer. Also be sure to have a large audio HD, and defrag it often. Good luck....

My main studio Mac - this one - is hooked up to the Internet, but it's behind two firewalls (one in my router and the other in software) and even if I were stupid enough to install them, there are no system updates to 9.2.2! But if something happens, I have my system hard drive backed up and can just replace its contents and get back to work.

My Windows machine is also connected so I can get GigaStudio or sample library updates, but I sure don't use it for email. The worms seem to have died down, but I was getting about 20 messages containing them every day - literally.

I have a fire wall that comes with comcast. spy stopper and history kill, all of which still does not stop stuff from being installed on my computer while on line. it's like the wild wild west out there with high speed.

I get my home page changed, icons apper on my tool bar from programs that get installed. It's crazy. I think something is in there eating up CPU though I can't find it.

This is an older mother board that I don't think well work with XP. Time to upgrade.

Nick is on a Mac, which is immune to all Windows viruses. Firewalls are a superb safety item too.

Jeremy, if you have your own firewall (most routers will do the job) you know it's working. I wouldn't trust my cable ISP.

As for automatic installs, you must have automatic update turned on, and/or you've already got bad software running that's doing nasty things to you. Clean it up, install a cheap router, and you'll be safer.

ISPs have traditionally NOT blocked the TCP ports that caused the recent Windows problems...so much for their firewall.