PC having random hiccups

[Wayne92]

For about 3 weeks to a month, my pc has been having hiccups for no known reason. They last for a fraction of a second, if music or audio is playing I will get feedback when it happens, I even lose sound but if I restart the song or video it works. If Im typing or watching a video it will lag for a second. I havent added any programs or did anything to my pc out of the ordinary. I run a Windows 7 64bit, i7 quad core, 750 gb HDD and 6gb of ram. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Mike753]

What program do you use the run the audio/music? Or is it anything?

[darkwoon]

It is hard to point at anything specific with such general explanations. However, there are a couple usual suspects you can check:

- Check what programs are running - Ctrl+Alt+Delete->Task Manager will give you a rough clue of that. Also have a look at the systray (taskbar box where many small icons live). Try closing as many programs as you can; some may eat more resources than you may think.

- Check Windows indexing services: Windows 7 includes a system meant to improve the search time for files on the hard disk. It works by browsing the whole disk while your computer has spare time to do so. Unfortunately, it sometimes doesn't detect spare time very well, creating effects like application stuttering. Unless you often use the Windows file searching function, you can safely disable it to gain in performances. Here (http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/disable-search-indexing-in-windows-7/) is how to do it (and no, it has no nasty result).

- Check the usual suspects: malware. You probably have an antivirus that protects you from most viral attacks, but they tend to miss a great deal of non-virus malware, like adwares, that can slow down the computer. I'd suggest having a system check with the free version of Malwarebyte's Antimalware (http://www.malwarebytes.org) (uninstall it once your system has been checked - no need to add to the overall weight!)

- Uninstall any unused software. This includes the many Explorer toolbars, registry optimizers, and scanners of all sorts most installers suggest you to install as free bonus. They are usually not great tools, eat resources of all sorts, and sometimes even serve as adware gateways.

- Use CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER) to clean up your temporary files, your registry, and any program launched at startup that are not necessary. Check in particular the various auto-updaters Adobe, Oracle, Apple and many others more or less silently install. They eat a lot of resources just to remind you that a new version of a software exists.

- Have also a look at your security suite. Firewalls and antivirus are sometimes very efficient, but some are really, really too heavyweight. Disconnect the computer from the network, disable the security suite and run your stuttering video again; if it doesn't stutter, then maybe you should consider moving on to a lighter software. AV-Comparative (http://www.av-comparatives.org) is a good guide on which antivirus are providing good protection.

Well, there are many other things that could explain your problem, but those are the basics you may want to check first before moving on to other, more twisted ideas.

Hope it helps!

[Wayne92]

It was anything and everything, but its fixed now. it turned out to be a windows update or program installation that went wrong. i did a system restore to the days before it happened and it went away. Reinstalled the update or program again and it works fine now.