If you are experiencing drop-outs with RealTracks, it could be caused by running an older build of the program under certain conditions. So the first thing you will want to do is download the latest update patch from http://www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm.
Garbled or stuttering playback could be a system resource issue. You may be able to completely fix the problem by turning off accelerated RealTracks generation. This is done in the RealTracks Settings dialog (Control+click on the RealTracks toolbar button and uncheck "Speed up generation of RealTracks". If your playback is only "garbled" during the first few bars, that is an indication that this will fix it. The downside is that RealTracks will now take longer to generate, so you might instead troubleshoot the source of the problem:
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Close other programs running on your computer. Your computer loads a number of programs automatically when it boots up. One useful test you can do is to use the system configuration utility to do a selective startup. To do this, go to the Start menu and type msconfig in the search field (On Windows XP and earlier go to Start | Run). Choose Selective Startup, uncheck startup items, Apply, and reboot. Then run Band-in-a-Box® and see if it is any different.
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Some anti-virus programs are notorious for causing these types of problems. See if it improves if you disconnect your computer from the internet and disable your anti-virus software.
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Try changing processor scheduling to 'background services' (and other performance settings): Right-click on My Computer and select Properties, then click on the Advanced tab (or click 'Advanced System Settings' on Vista and higher).
- Click on the Settings button in the Performance section, and select 'Adjust for best performance'. Your operating system will not look as pretty, but will be faster.
- Try setting Processor Scheduling to 'Background services' rather than 'Programs'.
- You might get better sequencing if you set Memory Usage to 'System cache'.
The previous two items might be most noticeable if you have a specific problem you are trying to fix. If toggling those settings doesn't help anything, or makes matters worse, toggle them back. However, most people should get at least as good or better performance with 'Background services'.
Another thing that some people find helps is to click the [Change] button in the Virtual Memory section, and select 'Custom size' rather than 'System Managed Size'. System managed is the safest setting, so most people will probably want to leave it there. However if you do set it to Custom, try setting the Initial Size to the size of your RAM (for example 512 MB) and the Maximum size to twice the size of your RAM.
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Clean up and defragment your hard drive: Check your hard disk space by going to My Computer, right-clicking on your hard disk, and selecting Properties. If you are getting low on space (especially on your system driver), this can slow down your computer quite a bit. Delete files that you don't need, and temporary files. You can use the Disk Cleanup utility (Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup) to delete temporary files. Start the defragmenter by going to Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Defragmenter. This may take a long time if it hasn't been done recently, and you can't do anything else on your computer while the defragemter is running.