Music flickers/crackles in Windows Media Player when browsing the Internet

I was using Avast and AVG and was having problems with both.  Even was having problems with no antivirus installed at all.

Neurot5: What virus scanner are you running? Have you tried my suggestion above? If you are not using a MS scanner, perhaps modify the steps to set you scanner to not scan itself.

Darryl Gittins

I've been having the same problem for months.  I'm positive by this point it's a Windows7 64-bit issue.

I have found USB audio streaming with Windows 7 64-bit to be extremely hit or miss.  I have it installed on four systems: three desktops and a laptop.

The laptop is an Intel dual core Dell Latitude that shipped with Vista Business 64 bit.  When using high-quality audiophile-grade outboard USB DACs, I would get popping and skipping from the get go.  Upgrading to Windows 7 did not resolve the issue.  I tried disabling various drivers, updating them, disabling devices, monkeying with wifi settings, etc.  No go.  It happens irrespective of running various Windows 7 troubleshooters or trying the stock Microsoft suggested fixes.  DPC latency spikes abound.

On an AMD box I built myself for work (Phenom II 965 BE quad core with 8gb of DDR3 on an Asus mobo, using high quality Seasonic power supply and other high quality components), I have no trouble using an outboard USB DAC for audio.  No skips, no spikes, etc.

On a Dell XPS 420 with 4 gb of DDR2 memory, I can get audio from the OEM Creative sound card that is fine, but if I switch to an outboard USB DAC, I get random pops, pings, and skips all throughout the sound.

On an Intel 1366 (i7-930 6gb of DDR3) system that I built on an Asus mobo using high quality power supply and components, I get good sound from the onboard Realtek audio chips.  However, if I switch to an outboard USB DAC, the latency problem appears and I get terrible audio. 

Again, with all of these machines, I've gone through the various processes of trying to hunt down culprits to no avail.  It seems to be a Windows Vista/7 problem.  I never had this problem with XP 32-bit on the three or four computers I used it on. 

It's really frustrating because I have an excellent headphone amplifier and DAC that I use to listen to lossless rips of my music.  Windows 7 has essentially ruined the experience of streaming computer audio for me.

Microsoft virus scanners apparently can contribute to the problem. If you are running Microsoft Security essentials or Forefront, try this:

1. Open Microsoft Security Essential or Forefront.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Click Excluded files and Locations
4. Click Add.
5. Select either of the following paths, depending on the scanner you are using:

c:\Program files\Microsoft security essentials\MsMpEng.exe

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Forefront\Forefront System\Client\AntiMalware\MsMpEng.exe

6. Click Ok.
7. Click Save changes.
8. Close the scanner program, and then restart the computer.

You might also try excluding other network intensive programs like iTunes.exe or iTuneHelper.exe.

For more on this, see the following:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msestart/thread/0519ba5e-f3d8-4caa-a193-01fea178aa4f

Darryl Gittins