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the_wine_snob
Inspiring
August 26, 2009
Question

Clean, Lean & Mean Editing Machine - One Workflow

  • August 26, 2009
  • 12 replies
  • 43949 views

Many people run low on System Resources, while editing. Often, this is because they have a lot of other programs and Processes loaded, running and sapping their Resources. Here is how I handle these programs and Processes, to get the most out of my computers.

The first thing that I do, before I do any editing, is clean out my system, using MSCONFIG to eliminate all unnecessary programs and Processes at boot. These are things like MS Messenger, iTunes Helper, Bonjour Services (I do need this for one progarm on my laptop, so I keep it there), and the like. These are little things that are usually installed by the OS, other programs, or the folk, who build the machine. Unless subsequent installs add this sort of stuff back, this is a one-shot deal. I do this, when I take delivery of any new computer, and check carefully, should I install, or update anything.

Next, I manually Exit from my AV, spyware sweepers and pop-up blockers. The reason that I do this manually is that most of these programs are designed to not let themselves be shut down by any software, as many Trojans will attempt to do this, so they can do their nefarious work undetected.

Last, I run a little utility, called EndItAll2, to then shut down all unnecessary programs and Processes (on a session basis, and not permanently, like MSCONFIG), prior to editing.

This gets my machine in as lean, clean and mean a status, as I can. Then, I edit.

This topic has been closed for replies.

12 replies

August 11, 2011

will work on suggestions.

Thanks. will let you know how it turns out.

leo

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
July 10, 2011

See this article for some Tune Up Tips for PrPro and AfterEffects. While they are somewhat program-specific, there are good general tips in the video, as well.

Hunt

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
January 28, 2011

Here are some more Win7 tips, provided by John T. Smith: http://windowssecrets.com/comp/110127

Just scroll down past the ads.

Good luck,

Hunt

Bob Dix Photographer
Known Participant
March 2, 2011

Hi Bill,

Followed tips re ARTICLE and "RUNNING OUT OF MEMORY" in Premiere Elements has not re-appeared in recent productions  ???????????????

I really do not know what single change, changed the situation,but, thanks for info.

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
March 2, 2011

Bob,

Great news. Sometimes we never know what the root cause of something was, or what fixed it - having it fixed might be "as good as it gets."

Happy editing,

Hunt

Participant
November 8, 2010

I also had trouble with a lot of lockups and crashes with PE9 on my medium higher-end HP system (quad-core i7 Intel CPU at 2.8 Ghrz, 12 GB RAM, fast HDDs, NVIDIA GTX-260 graphics card, upgraded 650W PSU, and Win 7 Ultimate x64 OS) and found I had to do the following to reduce the problem: stopped some unnecessary apps from running at startup via msconfig,  turned off all components of my Norton Internet Security suite, disabled some system processes running in the background, disconnected my computer from my Ethernet Lan (partly for protection because I disabled Norton Internet Security, but I also found network traffic seemed to sometimes interfere with PE9 during rendering), disabled the Win 7 screen saver which also seemed to interfere with rendering at times, and disabled all 3-D capabilities of my NVIDIA video card.  A new recent NVIDIA driver update also seemed to help some but I still get the ocassional crash so I intend to look into the suggested Black Viper Win 7 Process info (which I have also done in the past to eliminate some processes running in the background) because there are still dozens of Processes runing on my computer all the time and perhaps some or many of them can be disabled.  Thanks for the continued posts on this very frustrating subject of PE9 crashes -- I am sure many of us users are benefiting from the suggestions.

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
November 12, 2010

Because video editing is one of the most intense operations that one is likely to perform on a computer, the cleaner, leaner and meaner the system, the better the editing experience will be. Even on a workstation, designed to edit video, keeping the processes and programs to a minimum will enhance that experience.

Good luck and thank you for reporting your success.

Hunt

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
October 11, 2010

Neale posted this in response to cleaning up one's computer, and I think that it is well worth listing here:

  1. (Optional) Make a note of how much free space your disk has.
  2. Create a system restore point.
  3. Download and install the free CCleaner. Run it and let it clean up what it finds.
  4. Review your disk for files that can be safely deleted and do so. I highly recommend the free 'SpaceSniffer' (ensure you run it as administrator) that graphically shows what is using your disk space. It is amazing.
  5. Run CCleaner again (to remove the stuff from step 4).
  6. Run Disk Cleanup.
    If it was me I would select the 'Clean up system files' button and then, on the 'More Options' tab, elect to clean up 'System Restore and Shadow Copies'. This deletes all but the most recent restore point and can free up many gigabytes of disk space. You do need to be confident that your machine is currently in a stable state and that reverting to the restore point created in step 2 (if necessary) will give you a working system.
  7. Run Disk Defragmenter.
  8. (Optional) Make a note of how much free space your disk has, compare to step 1 and (mandatory) gasp 'Wow'.

Hope that this helps,

Hunt

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
September 22, 2010

Also, see Harm Millaard's Tuning Guide for Vista-64, which also applies to Win7.

Hunt

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
June 19, 2010

For a bit more on Resources/Memory, see this ARTICLE.

Hunt

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
June 10, 2010

Along with those tips, it seems that "real time virus scanning" does cause all sorts of problems with NLE programs: See this THREAD. As mentioned above, turning OFF all AV, spyware, malware sweepers, etc. is highly recommended. This is just another instance where it is re-enforced. Turn it ALL OFF and do not surf the Internet, while editing.

Hunt

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
September 5, 2010

Along with real-time AV scanning, Windows Indexing can get in the way, as well. This ARTICLE will give you some background.

Good luck,

Hunt

Participating Frequently
September 7, 2010

My computer has gone back to the supplier. I think this is the third time

. This time he thinks he has found a fault with the motherboard, and or ram.

I hope that this time it will solve the problem, as I have been getting video output times of four hours for six

minutes of video. Also multiple problems with photoshop and bridge.

Indexing on my drives has been turned off from the start with no difference being detected. But I am

sure that there have been serious problems with the hardware from the start, but I have had difficulty convincing

my supplier of that, as initially he could not find any faults.

It has been a long haul going on for months on end with no satisfaction being gained. Let's hope he gets it

right this time.

Regards

Tony

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
May 10, 2010

Though this ARTICLE is referenced elsewhere in Tips & Tricks, the utilities listed are well worth noted. They will help on gather so much useful info about what is happening on a computer - both the hardware and the software.

Hunt

the_wine_snob
Inspiring
April 30, 2010

An additional aspect of resource management, that is often overlooked, but is very important is the Windows Virtual Memory, i.e. the Page File. This will come into play, when RAM has been exceeded. By default, when the OS is installed, the Page File will be set to be dynamically managed and will be located on the system drive, C:\. For video editing, many recommend that the Page File be statically setup, to remove the overhead of dynamically managing it. Many also recommend placing it in the first sectors of the second, physical internal HDD (not a partition!). This does two things: it allows for the I/O activity to be spread over two physical HDD's, and also will place it in the same spot, and at the front of the second HDD, at boot up. It is also easier to defragment in this position.

Benchmarking can often tell what the best location is for one's particular system.

As for sizing the statically managed Page File, the old standard used to be ~ 2.5x the physical RAM. With 64-bit OS's, that is a bit of overkill now, and something in line with ~ 1.5 - 2x is fine.

Hope that this helps someone,

Hunt