Kylotan
Here are my suggestions for you, tips I learned the hard way.

 
All excellent advice. The only thing I'd add is with (2), typing E bypasses/enables all effects. If you bypass all the effects and latency goes away, you know an effect is the cause of the problem.
 
I do agree that computers can do more than one thing, but as you say the key is proper setup and it's not always easy to find the weird little pieces of bloatware stuck in various corners by McAfee or whomever. Sometimes this accounts for the "I bought a brand new computer at Office Depot and it runs worse than my old machine!" syndrome.

Hey jkoseattle, don't forget the times when you finally sit down at the computer, and you're so tired that nothing worthwhile springs to mind. ;-)

I feel your pain! No matter how clean and tweaked your computer is, you will *always* have screw ups, crashes, or need to use a plugin that requires you to RTFM (for the whole 45 minutes).

The only alternative is to play acoustic guitar and record to tape ;-)

Seems like computers know when you need them the most and have little time to do it.
 

mudgel
While my studio PC started off only for audio and video, i gradually added MS Office and all sorts of non audio programs and it too is as solid as a rock. I have no special settings, nothing, and its on a gigabit network as well. Only time I take it off line is if I'm actually recording and then only if I have to set my latency below 128.

 I find that so often non DAW apps are often used for DAW.

Thanks, you all have made me feel better. Sounds like I should just start over with a clean OS install, but man, the very idea terrifies me. Can't I just wave a magic (green$) wand and get someone to come over and make it work?

jkoseattle
Thanks, you all have made me feel better. Sounds like I should just start over with a clean OS install, but man, the very idea terrifies me. Can't I just wave a magic (green$) wand and get someone to come over and make it work?

Well... there is Jim et al from StudioCat. I think those guys offer remote service/tweaks for a fee. I've been wanting to give them a try but alas... no cash for such extravagances. Besides my home built hack job does pretty well (touch wood) considering I'm the clown that put it together and had never built a computer before... nor knew jackballs about doing so.

jkoseattle
Thanks, you all have made me feel better. Sounds like I should just start over with a clean OS install, but man, the very idea terrifies me. Can't I just wave a magic (green$) wand and get someone to come over and make it work?

 I always made a bare OS image with no apps and a 2nd one with apps working correctly.
 Sometimes it's good to build a spare DAW. Looking at your system specs it probably wouldn't hurt to make a more powerful one just to run Play products.  If software has the same behavior on multiple systems it's a software flaw. Sometimes you don't have to spend a lot of money for a second DAW unless you want Intel's latest and greatest.
 I had two DAWs and a daily use machine then I added one for home theater/gaming.  I started popping audio cards in them and they all became available for DAW use. Most of them could probably be considered vintage gear. 

Kylotan

I do feel your pain. A lot of my creative days have been like that. Here are my suggestions for you, tips I learned the hard way.
 
1) Update to Platinum. Yes, I know we shouldn't have to pay extra to get bug fixes, but it is currently a fact of life. I had lots of crashes on 8.5, quite a few on X3, but only one in several months of using Platinum. (Yes, there are other bugs you get in exchange, but at least there is the prospect of them getting fixed; the bugs you have in X3 are going to be with you forever.)
 
2) Record latency is almost always down to 1 of 2 things: (a) your ASIO driver settings, or (b) a plugin you added. You can check the first in seconds and the second you can try and keep an eye on as you edit your project. The worst culprits for latency are convolution reverb/simulators and linear phase EQs, both of which tend to need to buffer up a lot of audio before they can start acting upon it. Get to know your plugins and watch for latency changes.
 
3) Don't run virus scans during music operations. If something is going wrong in your DAW then 99 times out of 100 it's a problem with plugins or settings. Viruses have better things to do than interfere with your music software.
 
4) Try to stick to 64 bit plugins. Bitbridge is a decent piece of kit but VSTs were designed to be run in-process without a middle-man trying to pass data between them and the DAW. With X3 probably half my crashes were related to various 32-bit plugins, and even now most of the problems I get with any plugins (especially those that don't initially make any noise at all until I change a preset) is because they're 32 bit and hosted in Bitbridge. Try to find replacements if necessary.
 
5) Try to do maintenance tasks at other times, not when you're trying to be creative. By that I mean organising your plugins, creating templates, etc. Then hopefully you can get straight down to business when you need to.
 
6) Clean up your computer. I don't subscribe to the "only use the PC for audio" belief - a desktop computer set up properly is capable of performing pretty much any task you throw at it. But be aware of competition for its resources. You may need to close other apps while working with Sonar, and you may need to ensure fewer background processes are running. Some people see a benefit by switching off wireless cards or other network drivers (because they can compete with Sonar for rapid CPU use). Similarly, programs like Flux compete for the graphics card, Crashplan competes for disk access, and so on.

Good advice. But I totally disagree with (6), the specific point that you should be able to install other software... You can of course, but the less software you install the better it will be. Every qualified IT pro should know this.

Software has dependencies and can screw up other software dependencies. If you want a reliable DAW set up then use recording software on one windows installation only, and other related apps. Avoid installing office, counterstrike, flappy bird, visual studio etc. Also if you can avoid upgrading windows, do a clean install.

What I do is multi boot to other windows partitions. I have one dedicated to audio, business, software development, linux, and general windows crap such as games and trials which I hardly use (that final partition btw is not surprisingly the least reliable).

All windows partitions have virus scanners installed, however they all share the same data drives.

I've personally always had weird issues and crashes with every version, including the very latest Everett update1. I just find its been easier to just workaround or deal with the issues than its been to troubleshoot. Platinum is most stable for me, but it's not devoid of quirks.

I too can totally understand.  However, I bought a StudioCat computer and Sonar Platinum and all is working very well for the most part.  
 
One thing I think that is being overlooked is that recording QUALITY music seems by many nowadays, that it should be easy and quick.  Recording good stuff is an art and takes a level of expertise as well in my opinion.  Computers and programs like Sonar make it easier and it is often overlooked what effort is involved getting good mic'd sounds on instruments...say especially piano and drums, not to mention a good vocal sound.  Being able to "hit record" seems to be the "limit" for many in what they are willing to do.  I'm NOT saying you're in this camp, but people that are NEW to recording and ONLY know the technical stuff presented in the last couple years, don't really grasp how involved quality music can really be. Devoting short segments isn't consistent with those that do it professionally and make quality stuff.  It's like saying I want to paint a masterpiece, but only sit down and paint in 15 minute segments. Only enough time to get a couple of colors out and a few brush swipes.  Then you're done for the session.  Maybe my point is clear...maybe it isn't, as I suspect a newbie that ONLY knows cut and paste and using virtual instruments doesn't really have the "experience" to go any further.  So when Z3ta crashes, they're finished for the day.