Tips to make a Windows system more productive

1. Install the latest network adapter firmware, storage area network drivers, and network adapter drivers.

2. Disable all hyper-threading present on BizTalk Server and SQL Server computers.

3. Configure the antivirus software to avoid real-time scanning of BizTalk Server executables and file drops.

4. Review the disk controller stripe’s size and volume allocation units.

5. Optimise Windows Server’s performance for background services.

6. Disable non-essential services like Messenger, Clipbook, Telephony, etc.

7. Disable intrusion detection network scanning between the computers in the BizTalk Server environment.

8. Defragment all disks present in the BizTalk Server environment on a regular basis.

9. Disable real-time scanning of the data and transaction files if antivirus software is installed on the SQL Server computer.

10. Configure firewall(s) for BizTalk Server.

11. Use the Interrupt Filter Configuration tool to bind network adapter interrupts to specific processors present on multiprocessor computers.

12. Use the NTFS file system on all volumes. Do not use NTFS file compression.

13. Assign the MSDTC log file directory to a separate dedicated drive.

14. Monitor drive space utilisation.

15. Implement a strategy to avoid disk fragmentation.