Bug report: I posted before about very long scan times (over 40 mins) when starting a new install of Audacity. I have just done an install on a new computer (Win 7 64 Ultimate on an i7 2600) of Audacity 2.02 from an exe. The scan time is hugely faster. I installed Audacity when I didn’t have any VSTi installed apart from those native to FLStudio 10.02. When it starts up, it gives me the following three messages:
‘An error has been signaled by the Protected Object Server: File SYNSACC.DLL could not be located in the Windows system folders’
‘Cannot create file "C:|Program Files (x86)AudacitySystemConfigBrowserSnap1.scr. The system cannot find the path specified.’
Perhaps this is because I don’t have a C drive, I don’t know. Anyway at this point it freezes and has to be killed by Task Manager. It then gives the message:
‘Quick MM; 4259 leaks… FL Studio (multi) .dll’
If it is run in administrator mode, it gives the same messages but does not hang. The scan completes in about 1.5 minutes and the program then starts.
Try disabling VST support in Audacity and see if Audacity launches correctly (and reasonably quickly) without errors.
VST support can be disabled in “Edit > Preferences > Effects”.
Why do you not have a C: drive?
You can’t disable VST support in Audacity until you get it running in the first place. As it is, when I do a new install it has to be one of the first things I install, or it would waste time scanning the 100+ VSTi that I have on my computer. I bought this computer second-hand, but as far as I know the drive had never been used in another computer, so why it should identify it as E (C), I haven’t the faintest idea. Disc management won’t let me change it. I’ve since added drives from previous computers and they always end up with names like F (D). From comments on other forums, I think it’s not uncommon.
You have a couple of choices,
You could make a cup of coffee while you’re waiting for Audacity to launch the first time 
You cold manually create an “audacity.cfg” file.
The file audacity.cfg stores the Audacity Preferences: Audacity Manual
If you create an audacity.cfg file in a text editor (such as NotePad), you can disable VST:
NewPrefsInitialized=1
[VST]
Enable=0
GUI=0
Rescan=0
I have discovered that the message regarding MMleaks is a by-product of using FLStudio Beta.
Once Audacity has run for the first time, it doesn’t re-check VSTs, so there’s only a problem on installation.
The point of what I am saying to you is that I should not be having these install problems with Audacity. People who don’t have a C drive, which is a lot of people, aren’t going to be able to install Audacity at all unless they hit on the idea of running it as an administrator. Like maybe a lot of people I believed all installs ran as an administrator anyway. They don’t. And you can’t ‘go and have a coffee’ while you are waiting for it to install. On previous installs, where I have already had Vsti such as Xoxos fauna, H.G. Fortune Alphatron and Wheel of Fortune 4 free, and even some commercial and paid for VSTi, I had to hit the ‘OK’ button over 900 times during install. I tried going away during install and coming back half an hour later to find the same OK prompt still waiting for me. People will give up on Audacity long before that. I use it because it has some easy-to-use MP3 re-editing tools that are very good - for example the noise reduction algorithm. But the fact is that Audacity has a deeply faulty install, there are a lot of other apps that do what it does, and if you want it to remain successful you will have to correct these problems. There is absolutely no need for it whatsoever to look for and check my VST folder on the hard drive. It can’t use the VSTi, and I won’t ever use VSTs with it - the included scripts and effects are more than enough. Why don’t you set it to only check a VST effect when it is actually loaded? This is what FLStudio does and it has made it by far the most popular DAW in the world - according to surveys and internet search results, more than 50% of all people using a DAW are using FLStudio. My guess is thaat this is because it has by far the best VST implementation of any DAW. Comparison: Audacity install - over 900 errors and prompts. Cubase install - about 25 prompts (three crashes). FLStudio install and loadup - 0 errors 0 prompts (occasional lockups when using more than two instances of some older VSTi not written for multi-core).
I run Audacity on five different computers, four at home, one out of the six I manage at work (Win 7 64 Ultimate x 2, Win 7 64 home premium 64, win 7 32 lite, win xp sp3 64). Audacity install has, on every one, been the worst install of all the 100+ programs I run. My experience right throughout life is that when I tell people about problems, they often react as if it is my problem or as if I have even caused the problem. When I talk to other users, I find they’re all having the same problem. Just that out of every 200 people, only one will notify problems. The usual response from everyone else is just to move on. I greatly respect the work freeware developers are doing - I put in huge amounts of volunteer work myself. And when people tell me there’s a problem with something I’ve done, my response is ‘Thank you, I will fix that’.
The problem loading some VST effects is known about and the issue is mentioned in the release notes (included with every Audacity download and on Windows is displayed during the installation:
Missing features - Audacity Support (highlighting by me)
(Windows and OS X) VST/Audio Units Plug-ins: On first use and otherwise when requested, Audacity scans for and loads VST effects before the main interface appears. On OS X, Audio Unit effects are always loaded, which can lead to a very slow launch if there are many plug-ins. Occasionally, an incompatible or badly written plug-in may lead to a crash or freeze on launch. Known plug-ins affected:
Waves Version 7, 8 and 9 Audio Units on OS X
Native Instruments Guitar Rig v3 and v4 on OS X (v5 does not have this issue)
Native Instruments B4 on OS X
PredatorFX
AURoundTripAAC from “Apple audio mastering tools”.In a future version of Audacity we aim to defer loading of plug-ins until they are requested in the Effect menu. > Workaround: If VST/AudioUnit effects are not needed in Audacity, force quit Audacity, then open Audacity’s folder for application data. Open audacity.cfg (or create it if it does not exist) then add or edit the following lines:
[AudioUnits]
Enable=0
[VST]
Enable=0
Rescan=0
>
> If plug-ins were the problem, Audacity should now launch.
So you can see that far from brushing the problem under the carpet, the problem is acknowledged and there is every intention to remedy the problem in future versions. I'm sure that you can appreciate that as the developers of Audacity are unpaid volunteers that work on Audacity in their spare time, it may be a while before we see the issue fully resolved. I think that it is worth noting however that over the last few years there has been significant improvement to VST support in Audacity.
Please note also that a ZIP version of Audacity is available on the Windows download page that does not require installing: http://audacityteam.org/download/windowsAnother issue is that Audacity does not have money to buy hundreds of expensive VSTi plug-ins to test (and the vendors don’t offer them to us for free).
I tried the FL Studio Demo on Windows 7. I got no errors until I pointed Audacity to the Fruity* dll’s. However the errors produced appear to come from Windows or the Fruity Plug-Ins themselves. Unless we suppressed such warnings (which would be very questionable) those errors will appear as Audacity loads the plug-in. This will be true even if it’s a VSTi plug-in that has a “synth” flag which causes Audacity to then unload it.
Whether there is something we can do to delay or suppress errors on a plug-in that is already flagged for unloading, I don’t know. It would be good if we could, even if loading was deferred until the plug-in is asked for.
Another solution (if it does not interfere with other VST hosts) is to put the synths somewhere Audacity won’t find them (see http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/VST_Plug-ins#locations for where Audacity looks for VST plug-ins).
Gale
Just to be pick a nit, the included README that also pops up in the Windows installer only has the Changelog (including bugs fixed) as regards the current version.
The README has a link to the online “Known Issues” which is part of the complete Release Notes for that current version.
Gale