As I have reported in other threads, I've been having trouble with audio drop outs with Windows 7 64 bit on a reasonably high end computer. I don't get this problem with a netbook running Windows XP, which I found odd. Today, I did some Google searching looking for Windows 7 audio problems, which I have done in the past without much luck, and found a clue reported recently in a Microsoft thread. A user who has a high end computer with the top performing Intel processor reported audio drop outs. His comments mirrored my experience exactly, including drop outs when the computer was basically idling doing nothing but playing music. Somehow, he tracked the problem down to an Intel Control Centre utility, which he disabled and the problem went away. My system also has an Intel processor (i5 quad core running at 2.8Ghz) and it has a utility called Intel Rapid Storage Technology which gets loaded at start up. I went to the Intel web site and downloaded the latest version of this utility and the audio drop outs disappeared. I've been listening to iTunes for the last hour and haven't had a single drop out. Previously, I couldn't get through 1 song without drop outs.
While this is off topic for a DPS thread, I have posted it here with the intention of helping other DPS users who might be experiencing similar problems.
