Sticking Audacity 2.3.3 recordings

Audacity Help Forum Windows
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Hello. For some years now I’ve used Audacity 2.1.2 on a 2012 Samsung i5 chip Windows 7 laptop (Norton virus protection) to record various radio broadcasts, which has worked very well with no issues at all.

With support for Windows 7 about to end, I’ve just now got a new HP i7 chip Windows 10 laptop (McAfee virus protection). The new laptop appears to be working ok with Office 365 etc, and seemed to be ok with newly installed (from Audacity) 2.3.3 software.

This records radio broadcasts ok, but there seems to be a degree of “stickiness” in playback quality - not much admittedly, but enough to render for me the recordings useless (inevitably, you find yourself listening for the blips). I’ve tried re-installing, but the result is the same. Interestingly, I tried playing 2.3.3 recordings from the HP laptop in 2.1.2 on the Samsung laptop and the playback seems to be fine.

Taking 2.1.2 recordings from the Samsung which play fine and playing them back in 2.3.3 on the HP comes back with the same problem. That to me implies a 2.3.3 issue on the HP, though I guess conceivably it could be a random HP laptop issue. The source broadcast data plays fine through both laptops.

I’d be grateful for any help or guidance anyone can give to help sort this issue - at not too sophisticated level as I’m afraid I’m not perhaps as technically aware as I’d like to be. With thanks and best wishes. Chris p.s. I guess another option might be to try loading Audacity 2.1.2 (assuming that’s still available) onto the HP laptop, though I haven’t tried that yet…

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Does temporarily turning off McAfee make any difference? (remember to turn it back on again after testing).

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My W10 laptop has McAfee on it - and it records fine with Audacity.

WC

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Apologies for not coming back sooner. Seems reason for issue is that the Audio Host was set to Windows WASAPI for playback on the new HP. Switching to MME for playback sorted it. Not sure why this would be. On the face of it, this doesn’t seem to be a problem with the Samsung, though I may not have tested all the options. Must admit, haven’t tried switching off McAfee either (am a bit reluctant whilst still getting used to the new machine - would probably have preferred Norton on the HP, but was persuaded that these days McAfee is the better option). Need also I think to delve more into the Audacity manual. You know, great though Audacity is, I can’t help but sometimes getting the urge to fire up the old Nak…!