Note: When you see this arrow : > it will mean “and then select”.

1.Turn Off Hard Drive Sleep

Make sure your hard drive is not set to sleep or turn off after a short amount of time.

Start > Control Panel > Power Options and set the 'Turn Off Hard Disk' option to 'Never'.

Also in this window should be the options for 'System Standby' and 'System Hibernation' - we recommend you set these both to 'Never' aswell. 

 

Serato DJ software should only be used from a fresh system start-up, if you are running Scratch Live, ITCH or Serato DJ Intro after it has been in hibernation or sleep-mode the computer is likely to not be running at 100% and you can run into all kinds of audio/waveform dropout issues etc. (Kind of like how you are not 100% when you first wake-up).

2. Turn Off Wireless Networking  

 

A commonly reported issue on our forums is an ill-timed Wi-Fi connection with a clubs link. Several users have reported problems with their Wi-Fi cards connecting to a wireless network while DJ-ing, this can happen even without your browser being open. Any Bluetooth technology inside your PC will also be attempting to connect with other Bluetooth enabled devices

The subsequent data transfers will be taking your CPU cycles and requesting the use of your USB drivers, leading to a possible USB dropout. You also run the risk of being interrupted mid-set for a version upgrade.

A good routine to start is to disable wireless devices before DJing in a performance situation.

To disable wireless-networks go to : Start > Connect To > Show All Connections and right-click > disable any LAN or High-Speed Internet connections.

3.Turn Off Automatic Updates

We recommend turning off automatic updates. It is easy to do and can prevent potential problems of update installations during a gig which can effect Scratch Live / ITCH / Serato DJ Intro's performance. Also, after every update you are prompted to restart your computer - If you are in the middle of a set you don't want to accidentally hit 'enter' when that pops up do you!

 

To turn off Automatic Updates go to Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates and select 'Turn Off Automatic Update', press OK.

4. Other Quick and Effective Tweaks :

1. Set graphic acceleration to full. You can do this by going to your desktop, right clicking and clicking on “Properties” then on “Settings”, “Advanced” and the “Performance” tab (this is sometimes called the 'Toubleshoot' tab. Make sure the Hardware Acceleration slider is set to “full” to reduce the load on your CPU.

2. Processor Scheduling should be set to “background services” and not “programs”.
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced Tab > Background Services

 

3. Disable the screen saver
Right-click Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > None

For additional and more advanced tips on XP optimization check out this site here : http://www.audioforums.com/windows-xp-optimization.php