Soundcard 'in trouble' because of Skype?

My Audiophile 2496 always did a very good job in my PC, but .....
Since a few weeks the performance dropped dramatically : Timing-problems, dropouts etc.

I tried to find out why this was happening, so switched off all background-progs, not used devices, even moved to another PCI-slot, upgraded memory.... DMA-settings.... all without any result.
Because of two running projects I ordered the Audiophile Firewire card to be able to finish the songs.

After installation of the FW the problem was still there!!!

Then I decided to restore a drive backup (a few months old), installed the FW software.. è voila ! Problems gone.

The restored file did not have Skype in it, but while rewinding my 'memory tape' the problems came after installing Skype. I once discussed this with ScottYee : The system slowdown because of Skype, even while not running in foreground.

All this is sufficient reason for me to stay away from Skype

Perhaps more members encounter similar trouble.

Roel, as a avid Skype user myself for quite some time, I've not suffered any kind of computer performance problems whatsoever. I suspect that adware, spyware, or a virus may be your culprit, not Skype.

Roel, which specific Ad-Spyware program(s) are you currently running?

Interestingly enough, I've discovered that relying on one Adware-Spyware program alone not effective at catching all ad & spyware, as each program often catches ad-spyware missed by the other ad-spyware programs. For this reason, in addition to keeping Norton AntiVirus running in auto protect mode, I run ALL the following adware spyware software programs, and (so far) haven't suffered computer performance slowdown problems:

* SpySweeper: http://www.webroot.com/products/spysweeper/?WRSID=0d0127810ebe5f2d9b561c902b812c5e

* Microsoft AntiSpyware: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

* Ad-Aware PLUS: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

* Spybot: http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10289035.html

Scott

Hi Scott and Roel, just to add my own comments about the problem, I have had absolutely no problem with any other software since installing Skype. In most cases, it is probably too easy to blame some new software and I think that Roel has to look at other possibilities yet.
Pity really that you are having these problems because I would really like to speak to you and also set up your Spontania software.
I hope you can sort it out soon.
cheers

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Eddie from Rotherham
Skype:eddiefromrotherham
www.yamahakeyboards.info

Eddie, Scott,

I'm not sure only Skype is to blame, but possibly a combination of some programs.

After the first time I installed Skype (few months ago) I found some changes in the firewall-settings (it was set to OFF)..... don't like that ! (so I removed Skype)

Since a few weeks I reinstalled Skype, again noticed the slowing system, switched all ad-aware alikes to OFF, switched off all not used devices, freed IRQ's, moved PCI boards, changed performance settings.....none helped.

Of course I did monitor the CPU-load (process-busy times) but found no excessive %'s.

After the disc-restore without Skype I installed Hitman-Pro2 what contains a lot of spyware stuff. (Spybot, Spysweeper Ad-Aware etc.) Norton Antivirus is running all the time.

It's not that Skype takes too much CPU-processing time, but it did change something in IRQ's/DMA parameters.
Every time the HDD's have a 'job'to do, dropouts appear.

Please do read the '?' in my heading

Some extra information :
Guillermo just called telling me he has serious problems using Audio-files on his PC.... since he installed Skype
Norton Autoprotect was switched off since Skype and he is not able to set it to ON again. (won't accept the command)
Guillermo removed Skype and re-installed the audio-driver..... problem vanished.



[This message has been edited by Roel (edited 06-19-2005).]

Hi Roel
It seems that there is something in your setup which is not liking Skype!
There is a whole batch of problem solvers under "Help" in the Skype page which have come to light.
There is also a possibility there to report about your problem and send it to Skype.
As with all new software there are 'teething problems' in some cases and your observations (and Guillermos) will be very valuable to Skype.
If you are able to report to Skype you would be helping lots of other users who may have similar problems.
cheers
Eddie

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Eddie from Rotherham
Skype:eddiefromrotherham
www.yamahakeyboards.info

Hello Roel,

Just in case you or any other users are using total recorder.
This is what is mentionned in their latest update;

Quote"
This new version has a number of features and updates including support for the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) compression codec, an automatic recording level adjustment that will attempt to set the optimal level for recording, the ability to exclude the loudest levels during normalization, the ability to copy tag information from one file to another. Also compatibility issues with Skype have been resolved. Skype users must update their Skype program to V1.1.0.79 or later and update to V5.2 of Total Recorder to be able to record Skipe sessions.