Don't forget to mark the thread as "Resolved" once you are confident the problem is gone.
There is a wealth of troubleshooting tips in this thread.
Jim, is there a button to click for Resolved?
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
I simply uninstalled the Dell SupportAssist software as a stab in the dark. We decided to uninstall them all one by one. These were
Dell Digital Delivery Services Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Updates Dell SupportAssist Remediation Dell Update for Windows Universal
That's freaking awesome!! I feel bad for not saying something on that topic since I'm a Dell guy too. I was troubleshooting a non-audio issue about a month ago and installed SupportAssist to get all my drivers updated and further troubleshooting. Once I was all good I had to end up uninstalling all that same Dell stuff as it was consuming a lot of resources just to run in the background. It was pretty much the same list you posted.
I'm so glad you got it sorted. Nothing like an annoying issue to keep you down. You persisted and got it.
Thanks Steve, And no "feeling bad". This was a tough nut to crack (think Brazil nut and your teeth). We're on web page #9 and you offered good suggestions along with many others.
This was an annoying issue but as Jim says, there's good info in this thread that if it doesn't get lost in the ether should help others with similar or even different problems.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
I think that button should show up for you if you go back to the very first post in the thread. It should either be at the top or bottom of that first message.
Someone in this thread mentioned getting rid of the “crapware” and that idea resonated with me so I simply uninstalled the Dell SupportAssist software as a stab in the dark. So far, this seems to have solved the problem…
New computer = new OS, new crapware?
Yes. Thanks for planting this seed. I had never heard the term "crapware" before. It will be in my vocabulary going forward for quite some time.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Mario is absolutely right. Digital audio is a small and highly specialized use for computers. We have to expect to solve our own problems. Remarkably, we usually do. The collective experience just on this forum is quite formidable.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
As far as crapware, it can be difficult to determine what to do. If you build a computer from scratch as I do, you don’t encounter it. Only when you buy from a one-stop vendor like Dell does this come into play. And you can’t just blanket uninstall all their stuff. As an example, they might contract with a manufacturer to make a DVD drive or graphics card that requires a specially modified driver. Or at least, they say that. I only encountered one situation where I absolutely had to use the vendor’s version of a driver. Still, test all your gear after deleting the vendor-supplied drivers.
In order to market that they somehow create unique value, the marketing people want those extra programs added to a pre-assembled computer. For most people it doesn’t matter. For digital audio content producers, it sure does.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Getting rid of bloatware and crapware should be your first step in setting up any new computer.
Byron Dickens
BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.
I'm not sure this issue is ever actually resolved; the problem is just conquered temporarily on your system until another challenge arises. After you get everything working, you will get another computer, upgraded operating system, or [fill in the blank] --- But marking the thread 'Resolved' should assist others who search for help to find the wealth of good suggestions here.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Probably the reason the Dell tech guys didn't know about the cause is because making music with a computer is the smallest common denominator of all computer uses. I have read where the next smallest is photography and it is 4-5 times larger than recording music.
Hmm, that's an interesting point. I do know that folk that produce computer-assisted music have certain computer and software needs.
I wonder if there are things that we can do to elevate our concerns to the lager tech community; sort of like a lobby. I was a squeeky wheel with Dell and did all I could do to get Dell decision makers to see the needs we have, including pointing them to this forum thread. At a minimum, the people I worked with got an education from working my issue.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Don't forget to mark the thread as "Resolved" once you are confident the problem is gone.
There is a wealth of troubleshooting tips in this thread.
Jim, I marked it Resolved.
If anyone wants to help me push this subject into an e-book/e-booklet send me a PM. We could include tips, diagrams and other useful material.
Condensing this into an organized document would help "future generations"; it sure would have helped me/us.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
BD, The issue is... With all different manufacturers it will be a different set of software that they will pre-install on the new machine. The rule of the thumb is, when you get a new computer is to try get rid of everything that you will not be using. All non essential active content that will launch automatically with Windows and take up resources / silently use internet to send data, etc. When you have a lean machine it is obviously faster and is much easier to troubleshoot. Also, less stuff that can go wrong.
I believe I mentioned it in earlier pages, there is a pretty detailed PC tune up guide from Sweetwater oriented at music PC tune up. So a lot of the stuff we discussed here was covered in their guide. If I remember correctly, Peter Gannon posted it in BIAB Windows section some time ago.
I mention Windows Shut up tool.... I completely forgot that the best tool I ever used for tricky stuff is called Ultimate Windows Tweaker. It is free and does some really cool stuff. I used it on 2 machines. It is tiny and very powerful. It has great community feedback and videos on what is what. I used it specifically to tune PC for music.
To sum up, I don't believe re-inventing a wheel of assembling a big troubleshooting guide is worth the time, but if you write concrete steps out for removing specific pesky Dell crapware (aka bloatware) to make things work, that could help future / current Dell users dealing with similar issues.
Guys, I am sure you know that Dell is one of the most popular and used business computer manufacturers in the country. They got that reputation in the business world by providing services and features which no other company provided. Including:
Dell SupportAssist software Dell Digital Delivery Services Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Updates Dell SupportAssist Remediation Dell Update for Windows Universal
Over the past 30 years I have likely used all these applications and was thankful they existed.
So before we storm the castle, we may think about specing out our purchases piror to purchase.
Dan, reading your post I can't figure out if you are joking or not. Perhaps for some kind of office all these "assistants" do something good. For music making world, I would stay away from these wonders as far as possible.
I have Thinkpad official driver updater. I would turn it on, let it update drivers and shut it off.
P.S. By tweaking, nobody is taking away your recovery partition
Guys, I am sure you know that Dell is one of the most popular and used business computer manufacturers in the country. They got that reputation in the business world by providing services and features which no other company provided. Including:
Dell SupportAssist software Dell Digital Delivery Services Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Updates Dell SupportAssist Remediation Dell Update for Windows Universal
Over the past 30 years I have likely used all these applications and was thankful they existed.
So before we storm the castle, we may think about specing out our purchases piror to purchase.
Run-of-the-mill office computing and audio production are worlds apart. When these things kick in to do their thing and/ or decide to phone home in the middle of working on your spreadsheet, you won't even notice.
When they do so in the middle of recording an awesome vocal take... well, aggravating is too mild a word.
Byron Dickens
BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.
Run-of-the-mill office computing and audio production are worlds apart. When these things kick in to do their thing and/ or decide to phone home in the middle of working on your spreadsheet, you won't even notice.
When they do so in the middle of recording an awesome vocal take... well, aggravating is too mild a word.
You are absolutely correct. I do run spreadsheets and other software all the time and never observed problems; these programs were probably being stepped on too but they were not noticable. . . . only when playing audio did I notice the problem.
I am as confident as I can be (99%+) that the Dell software was the root cause.
And several days ago I re-enabled Intel SpeedStep and my system is still running fine.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
To summarize, you now believe that the spikes observed in the latency monitoring software were caused by the Dell software, and after uninstalling that, things are good?
If so, I'm curious if you did anything with device drivers from Dell, if there even are any (I explained about this above). I'm assuming you only needed to remove the 'helper' software they bundle onto a new PC.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
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SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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