A very , very annoying thing....

To start.. 

If it's like any other Compaq then it probably came with a whole bunch of things on it you don't need. Start with the ctrl+alt+delete key and see what's running after you start up your computer. Basically anything you don't need to do audio with should probably not be running while you're running Reaper. Things like anti-virus programs, firewalls and the like CAN slow your computer down. But a few of them are pretty good if it's a computer that you must have online. I can recommend Microsoft Security Essentials and Comodo Firewall personally. Also Avast and PCTools firewall are pretty low on system resources. For the most part you could probably get away with just relying on the Windows firewall also, it's pretty good. Just make sure that if you run a different one you turn the Windows firewall off. I would also recommend doing a spyware scan every so often. Lavasoft Ad-Aware is free and does a good job. Also Spybot will do well. Another good program to grab is CCleaner. It makes cleaning out your temp folders quick and easy. And can also clean out your registry (careful!!, and really it won't improve your computer's speed all that much). And be consistent with defragging your hard drive to keep things tidy. Once every 2-3 months works well for me (the Vista defragging tool is pretty good, but if you must have a Non-Windows tool, Defraggler works well also). Check out this site to get all of these tools in one download: Any strange factory programs that do things like automatic updates (Compaq Hardware driver updating software for example) that run in the background can sap system resources, so disable them and just do the updates manually when you can. Or if you can schedule updates, have them run at night or during the day while you're not using your computer. A lot of audio optimization sites out there recommend doing things like turning off some of the fancy Vista features like the paging file, but I would steer clear of that stuff since it's how Windows was designed to work. Don't want to fix something that isn't broken. Lastly, just be selective with the programs you install on your computer. Don't allow things to run without your say-so. Don't download things if you don't know what they are. And obviously keep away from an nefarious looking web-sites. Hope that's helpful.

You can do search using "optimizing" and there is a whole bunch of stuff including lots of links. cliff

I don't know what exactly is meant by optimizing reaper. If I remember correctly, reaper is pretty good at finding connections and then of course there will be things that are preferences you control. If it's the computer you want optimized before installing reaper then I'd take a look at this: Hope it helps

By searching "optimizing" the results are a lot of people wondering the same thing.."how do I optimize my PC for use as a DAW?" If that is the info you are looking for. Otherwise, yes, chrisharbin is correct in that Reaper pretty much sets itself up. cliff

You may want to check out... Not sure what your OS is but a few google searches will help you find tweaks for audio. <<TS>>