chuckebaby
I have to agree with John and Promidi. Norton is indeed the worst and most resource pig on this planet earth.
I mean no offense of course. this is probably the Anti virus that came with your Internet provider (Comcast, exc).
so its not your fault.

 
On the contrary, Norton is my AV program of choice. I've found it (from first-hand experience) to be the most reliable and secure of all AV's I've tried over the years (including free ones like Avast and AVG, and other paid ones like McAfee). And since I do all of my business on one PC at present, I'd be pretty hesitant to divorce myself from what I consider to be among the best at what it does.
 
I know it has the deeply-rooted reputation of being a resource-hog to the point of practically crippling one's system performance, and six or seven years ago, I'd have had to agree with that. But newer versions, and on more modern machines, have become notably more efficient, to where I never notice it getting in the way anymore... with the one possible exception being this issue I'm having now.
 
BUT, these symptoms never occurred until I installed the new graphics card. So if it is related to Norton, it's not Norton alone that's creating the problem, but some commingling of Norton and the card, one that, for some reason, gets cleared up by popping open Norton's settings window for a quick second. What I'd like to know (beyond just that Norton sucks) is why that seemingly inconsequential action fixes the problems I experience in Sonar...
 

ampfixer
Try completely removing Norton from your system. I've seen it cause no end of system issues. If it does nothing you can always reinstall it.

 
Well, I could try doing so, and it may very well make the stuttering and other issues stop, but like I explained to Chuck, Norton's my AV of choice. So if the only solutions are to open and close Norton's settings menu once a day to make things behave, or to switch from Norton to another AV program entirely, I have to admit I'm currently more comfortable with the former.
 

promidi
I was going to suggest the same thing.  Norton's is nothing but trouble.

 
In my case, it's saved me (more than once) from malicious attacks against which I've witnessed other AV's fail. So I have to side with it there, at the very least.
 

well then your going to be left with some choices to make.
Norton is by far thee worst AV to use with digital audio work stations.
its still a pig on resources and could possibly be flagging your video card driver over a simple RS.
in some cases it literally disables drivers that don't pass an RS.
where Avast, AVG, MSE will simply flag it and leave you with a pop up choice.
not for nothing but you have 3 people in a row (users I respect their opinions very much)
telling you Norton is not a good choice. their advise is sound.
 
good luck on this.

Would be easy to temporarily uninstall Norton completely, check if the problem goes away - then reinstall (if desired). 

I just re-read this thread after installing a new nVidia GTX950 PCIe x16 in my system. My onboard Intel HD graphics 2500 is apparently at end-of-life for Windows 10. So an add-on card is the only way I can use up to date graphics drivers until I can upgrade my cpu/motherboard.
 
Intel has issued this NOTE:
Microsoft Windows®10 drivers for 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® HD Graphics 4000 and 3rd
Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® HD Graphics 2500 will include support for WindowsDisplay Driver Model(WDDM) 1.3. For reference, WDDM 1.3 features are available on Microsoft’s Web site. This driver will not
be digitally signed for Windows®10, which means that it will not have been certified by Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs(WHQL).
The driver is being provided as-is with no Intel support for any graphics issues found. Intel advises upgrading to Intel approved Windows 10 products for the best user experience and support.
 
Since installing the nVidia graphics board, I've been testing my Sonar Platinum and running Replendence LatencyMon. So far everything checks out good.  Still running ASIO buffer size 128.
 
I noticed that the PCIe x16 slot (which was previously empty) now shares IRQ 16 with my Texas Instruments 1394 FireWire controller.  But so far that does not seem to be an issue.

chuckebaby
I have to agree with John and Promidi. Norton is indeed the worst and most resource pig on this planet earth.
I mean no offense of course. this is probably the Anti virus that came with your Internet provider (Comcast, exc).
so its not your fault.
 
Just a minor suggestion but a switch to this Anti Virus:
https://www.avast.com/download-thank-you.php?product=FAV-ONLINE&locale=en-ww
 
Free Avast Anti Virus.
It's what 80% of us DAW users in the industry use (If using a Hybrid PC = DAW online PC).
It's free and it works, it also uses less than half of the resources of what Norton uses.
 
More often than not the Top 2 AV for DAW users are Avast and Microsoft security essentials.
Norton uses a lot of resources because it checks for every little thing.
I haven't paid for Anti Virus in over 7 years. Been using free Avast since 2008.
I did a paper on it in school (college not high school :-) It was a group project. We found that Avast was the best 3rd party free AV. The tests we did included blocking Malware, Rootkits, EXC.
The only thing it couldn't block was the FBI Virus. but since it was a test, all HD's were reformatted so I didn't need to worry. It was a great project. imagine surfing the net, trying to get a virus .
wouldn't try that on my DAW though.
 

I started using Avast about the same time as you, and would agree in general, up until last year.
 
I used Avast for years after fleeing from Norton.  We used Symantec at work, so I thought Norton had to be the best choice for home use.  But at some point it seemed to become so heavy on resources that I quit.  It may have improved since, but I never gave it another chance.  Personal opinion 
 
But in recent years, Avast has tried to add every possible option to become a security suite.  You have to be very aware during install to avoid the extras you may not want or need. Some things you even have to uninstall after the install.  Even then, I once had an extra browser installed on my PC out of the blue (pushed by Avast during update, not during an install), without being asked.  That was the final straw for me with Avast.  Avast AV detection scores have also slipped slightly recently.  I used to be a huge fan, but I have my concerns about the company now. Personal opinion
 
I have seen that the top AV detection scores now consistently belong to Avira, Bitdefender, and Kaspersky, and maybe a few others from time to time.  I am running Avira on my DAW without issue.  Avira Free uses the same detection engine as the Pro version, and has a good scan exclusion config.  You can exclude your audio and graphics drivers and programs to avoid possible conflicts.  Avira is light, and uses the Avira Protection Cloud to screen suspicious files, so your PC client doesn't have to run heavy algorithms.  I give it my recommendation.
 
I have been testing Bitdefender Free on a non-DAW PC, and it is light as well, but has limited scan config options.  Set and forget.  I think it may be a good runner up, if it doesn't conflict with anything on your system.
 
For the lightest resource hit and best Windows compatibility (and the lowest AV detection score), there is always Microsoft Security Essentials (Win 7) and Windows Defender (Win 8.1/10).

Thanks guys I didn't know there was two pages of this. It took about 6 hours, to fix the problem, from reading, moving the mouse around to 3 USB ports, looking at all the settings and interrupts etc. At the beginning of August I was working with imy animation videos and I decided to upgrade again from a R9-290X card to a Nvidia for the first time in decades a GTX 1070. I bought a audio plug-in today and I wanted to find out how it sounded and finally booted up Sonar Plat. First shock, my 4-out Midi interface is dead, had to order a new one. After I did that I moved my mouse and the sound dropped out, never had that happen before, if I move the mouse fast the Audio engine drops out regardless of what monitor the mouse is on and it would stop and Sonar would freeze, if I did it enough. I stopped all the FX's, changed the buffer timings and size, nothing worked or changed. Updated to the latest video driver, clean install SOS. Then I read where one guy changed his power settings although I have my computer on Max performance, I went into the Windows control panel, and clicked on the Nvidia tab, and changed all the settings 3D and some of the relevant others to max. Booted Cakewalk and after the song was loaded the CPU thread monitors popped up right away, where before I had to push play a few times. Also if I paused the song before I adjusted the video card settings, If I moved the mouse I can see the thread monitors dip and I could make it drop out. Now things are fine and working normal. All those guys who went back to a older driver, all that probably did is adjust those settings also. Since some cards are under warranty, they probably bought down the power with the new driver, my card was factory overclocked. Hope this helps, but you don't need a 1070 card unless you do gaming or video graphics. I read a lot of stuff tonight, but you guys on here solved my problem. I was thinking I was going to have to open a blank window behind Cakewalk too, that was going to be the next step. Hard to believe this worked. If this doesn't you may have to up your power supply to handle your card. This card is 100 watts less than my R9-290X.   

abacab



I started using Avast about the same time as you, and would agree in general, up until last year.
But in recent years, Avast has tried to add every possible option to become a security suite.  You have to be very aware during install to avoid the extras you may not want or need. Some things you even have to uninstall after the install.  Even then, I once had an extra browser installed on my PC out of the blue (pushed by Avast during update, not during an install), without being asked.  That was the final straw for me with Avast.  Avast AV detection scores have also slipped slightly recently.  I used to be a huge fan, but I have my concerns about the company now. Personal opinion
 
I have been testing Bitdefender Free on a non-DAW PC, and it is light as well, but has limited scan config options.  Set and forget.  I think it may be a good runner up, if it doesn't conflict with anything on your system.
 
For the lightest resource hit and best Windows compatibility (and the lowest AV detection score), there is always Microsoft Security Essentials (Win 7) and Windows Defender (Win 8.1/10).

I know this is an older post but I still use Avast.
Its free and with free comes hoops to jump through. I have never found extra software installed except the browser clean up tools and auto software updater, exc but those are 1 click turn off/uninstall. There is no shutting down and reboot needed.
 
What it comes down to is sooner or later those free AV software's you are exploring will soon add other bells and whistles, more hoops to jump through when they gain popularity like Avast has.
 
I totally agree Avast has got heavier through the years but I have noticed little difference in CPU usage once setting it up correctly and even a good paid for AV needs to be set up correctly. so no big deal there.
 

Update: Bug in my boot drive and I had to re-install windows on new drive. I thought MB was bad but it was probably a file(s) that froze & stopped my BIOS from working. After I put Sonar back in I forgot about the mouse problem until I used it. I went to the control panel, search if you cant find it, and then look for Hardware and Sound, and click on that, and you should see a Nvidia control panel. I made the and all the adjustments while Sonar was paused and the mouse problem is still there. Then I tried adjusting one item at a time and still no change, the audio pauses and sometimes crashes as you move the mouse. I then started all over again and made all the adjustments together, but this time I closed and re-booted Sonar, and everything is great. Here are the settings that I used for my 1070 card. 
 
Ambient Occlusion: Performance
Anti Filtering: App Controlled
FXAA = ON
Gamma Correct= ON
Anti Mode: Enhance the application setting
Anti Setting: 2X
Transparency: Multisample
Cuda -GPUs   : All
DSR Factors: 1.20x
DSR Smooth: 100%
Max pre render frames: Use the 3D app.
Multi-Frame Samp : On
Power Managent mode: Prefer maximum performance
Shader Cache: On
Texture filtering(s): On, Allow, Quality, On.
Threaded: On
Triple buff: On
Vert Sync: Fast
Virt Reality: 4

A + for the Bitdefender use, I've been using couple years, no impact virtually.

chuckebaby

abacab



I started using Avast about the same time as you, and would agree in general, up until last year.
But in recent years, Avast has tried to add every possible option to become a security suite.  You have to be very aware during install to avoid the extras you may not want or need. Some things you even have to uninstall after the install.  Even then, I once had an extra browser installed on my PC out of the blue (pushed by Avast during update, not during an install), without being asked.  That was the final straw for me with Avast.  Avast AV detection scores have also slipped slightly recently.  I used to be a huge fan, but I have my concerns about the company now. Personal opinion
 
I have been testing Bitdefender Free on a non-DAW PC, and it is light as well, but has limited scan config options.  Set and forget.  I think it may be a good runner up, if it doesn't conflict with anything on your system.
 
For the lightest resource hit and best Windows compatibility (and the lowest AV detection score), there is always Microsoft Security Essentials (Win 7) and Windows Defender (Win 8.1/10).

I know this is an older post but I still use Avast.
Its free and with free comes hoops to jump through. I have never found extra software installed except the browser clean up tools and auto software updater, exc but those are 1 click turn off/uninstall. There is no shutting down and reboot needed.
 
What it comes down to is sooner or later those free AV software's you are exploring will soon add other bells and whistles, more hoops to jump through when they gain popularity like Avast has.
 
I totally agree Avast has got heavier through the years but I have noticed little difference in CPU usage once setting it up correctly and even a good paid for AV needs to be set up correctly. so no big deal there.
 

Well nearly a year later, and I still will not run Avast on a critical system. 
 
My choice for that is still Avira.  It is nearly the most perfect AV that I have ever run.
 
But in all fairness, I do currently run Avast on a Win XP system that I use to run end of life software, that is not compatible with Win 10.  It seems that Avast has cleaned up the install a bit and it is rather unintrusive now.
 
I also have a non-critical Win 7 PC where I use Bitdefender Free.
 
So in terms of my interpretation of protection and low system impact combined (based on 3rd party test scores), my recommendations now would be for 1. Avira Free; 2. Bitdefender Free; 3. Avast Free.
 
But back to the OP's question for a moment, it would seem that his motherboard hardware was outdated, and possibly not compatible with the nvidia drivers, related to real-time audio, based on his latencymon test results.
 
In any case, it should be standard practice to temporarily remove security software if real time performance appears to be impacted.  But the LatencyMon test is the real key here.
 
Since the OP had no issues with the PC until adding the nvidia GPU, that introduced a driver that caused an increase in the DPC latency.  It was weird that opening a browser did improve the score, but Firefox does hook into hardware acceleration, so there may have been some happy unintended driver interaction going on there.
 
If it had been my PC, I probably would have tried a Radeon GPU for comparison. 
 
I have a 3rd gen Intel Core motherboard, and successfully tested two nvidia GPU's without impacting my latency.  So it may have been due to the nvidia drivers running on an old chipset and BIOS that were causing the original problem.
 
Another good reason to run modern hardware in your DAW!