"disable the wireless network adapter. Ask Dell support to tell you how to do that in the BIOS if doing so via Windows Device Manager does not work." Done. Disabled the Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter in device manager.
 
Mission complete.  Results pending...
 
"go into Windows Device Manager just before launching Sonar, and disabling the WiFi (NOT uninstall, just disable). Then launch your Sonar session, and when done and Sonar is closed, go back and Enable the WiFi again, and all should be fine." That is the same thing as the Broadcom 802.11n, correct?
 
"change your Windows Power Management Options, so that you are always set to run on the High Performance power" Done. Switched from "Balanced" to "High Performance."
 
"go into the Advanced Settings for the High Performance Power Plan and: 1) find the option and expand it for USB Selective Suspend, and make sure that you do NOT allow Windows to selectively suspend USB devices." Done.
 
"2) Also in those options, find the one that sets the Minimum CPU Processor State and set it to 100%, so that it always runs at full capacity" Verified that it was already set to 100 percent.
 
"3) set the options so that your hard drive NEVER turns off (set it to 000 minutes and it will see that as Never), and do NOT let Windows ever put your computer into Sleep Mode or Hibernate. Save those changes to that power plan." "Sleep After" was already set to "never." "Allow Hybrid Sleep" was on so I turned it off.
 
"Windows Device Manager, and pull up the properties for your Network Interface Card (your ethernet adapter), and also there make sure under the Power Management tab remove the check for the option that lets Windows turn that device off to save power." Done.
 
"Are any of your hard drives capable of going 'Green', meaning do they have variable speeds? If so, those can goof things up for Sonar." I viewed the properties for the disk drive "ST1000DM003-1ER162" and did not notice anything related to green or variable speed.
 
"Disable all network interfaces" That is the same thing as the Broadcom 802.11n, correct? This is the noly network adapter listed besides my ethernet ("Realtek PCIe GBE family controller").
 
On a side note, someone once suggested turning off all wireless bluetooth adapters (which I already did out of habit). Not sure if this is necessary or not.
 
Now, I am going to restart the computer and have a go at Sonar.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  And for those of you who do not celebrate Thanksgiving, happy day off of work?
 
One week since I applied all of the recommended adjustments above and a few results are apparent.  First, Sonar is running "smoother."  That's the good news!  Second, the latencyMon report has not changed from "Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks...."  Third, I have note experienced as many drop out's as usual but I have had two (and I paraphrase) "Sonar is not responding..." incidents whereas sonar is forced to close.  The most recent incident was after I had opened a new project, inserted Kontakt and Reaktor tracks, and during trying to record a piano track out of Kontakt.  Any suggestions would be much appreciated as to what I could try next. 
 
Thanks,
Jake

Four things come to mind, some of which have already been mentioned above. This post I made has links to others when I rebuilt this machine in July. Mine is Win7, but most will apply. I mention this a couple times below, but if unsure of processes/services, be sure to ask first.
 
Things that came to mind are:

1. What buffer settings/driver mode are you using? Buffers tend to have a sweet spot dependent on the machine, so not sure if you did a test to set these up. Steaming audio (Komplete 10) can also play highly into buffer settings.
2. Are you running an anti-virus program? If so, which one, as some are aggressive and over-analyze things.
3. Have you taken a look at the "Services" and "Startup" tabs when you run "msconfig.exe" from the Windows Start menu? On the "Services" tab, if you check "Hide all Microsoft services" at the bottom, it will give you a better list. Typically only hardware drivers and anti-virus services should be on either of those lists. If unsure, feel free to ask what something does before disabling it.
4. Lastly, if you type "services.exe" in the Windows Start menu, it pops up a massive listing, and a big offender is a Microsoft Service - "Windows Search" is the process that indexes your computer and often "goes to town" with high priority. This listing is very difficult to type details about, but in general (for the "Start Type" column) you can run anything "manually" (preferred for a lot of things), and "Automatic" means it loads at boot. Stuff like auto updaters, etc., do not need to always be running, and they will ping home or "do their thing" without warning. If you click the "Start Type" column, it will help you check the "Automatic" services your machine is loading on boot. Big flags to research or ask about would be any "Updater" or "Update Service." The "Windows Search" entry specifically I "disabled" (can right click an entry to change its Start Type).

If unfamiliar with things, it is best to ask first, but wanted to throw this out to you. Buffer alone under the right conditions/VSTis-used can bring a hefty machine to its knees.

Thanks Mettelus!  Your post is actually where I learned about latencyMon in the first place.  Dare I admit that although I read your entire thread I comprehended a generous 10 percent of the info provided.  I think your advanced knowledge of computers allowed others to respond with less laymen terms than would ever breach my thick skull.  I can barely get the computer out of the box it came in much less build one from scratch. 
 
I am going to set up and walk through your recommendations this afternoon.  I will try to answer the questions the best I can.  I will post results as soon as able.  Thanks again!!!

I decided not to run the latency checks because after 10 minutes they always give you some error report. Just run your DAW with some projects and if they lock up then do some research.
 
We've gotten in this bad habit of doing tweaks before we run anything and sometimes it's regression. Most systems are powerful enough we no longer have to do a lot of optimization. 

I am on Win7 here, so not sure of things which may be Win10 specific. It would be easiest to eat this elephant in small bites for you. #3 from the post above may provide the best initial insight. If you could post a screen capture (Alt+Print Screen captures just the active window) of the following 2 pages, it would help others see what is loading at boot on your machine.
 
Go to Windows Start button and type in "msconfig.exe" (it lives at C:\Windows\System32\msconfig.exe in case you want to launch it with Windows Explorer). It will pop up a window named "System Configuration."
 
1. Click the "Services" tab at the top, the "Hide all Microsoft services" checkbox at the bottom, and then the "Status" column (which will move all running services to the top). Alt-Print Screen that and paste/save the image. Mine looks like this:
 
 
2. Next click the "StartUp" tab. This one should already have only checked applications at the top. Alt-Print Screen that and paste/save the image. Mine looks like this:
 
 
In Step #4 of my post above, the only item I would be concerned with right now is the Windows Search process (does file indexing on your hard drive). This one is cannot be disabled in msconfig.exe, so must be done on the services.exe pop up. To disable this:
 
1. Go to Windows Start button and type in "services". It will pop up a window named "Services" (go figure)
 
2. It should already be ordered by the "Name" column, so resize the window to you liking, and scroll down to the very bottom to find the "Windows Serach" entry. Looks like this:
 
 
3. Right click that entry and choose "Properties" and you will see the popup window below. The dropdown highlighted will allow you to disable this service.
 
 
If ever one day you want to turn this back on, you can just change that entry back; but that indexer is self-starting and is often set to also index the "contents" of files. This creates some MASSIVE index files doing so (my old one was 300GB when I rebuilt this machine, and the only way to get rid of it after reinstalling Windows was to move everything I wanted to keep and format the drive the index file was on). Also, if you use an SSD, never allow that index file to be written to the SSD... always to a mechanical hard drive.
 
You typically need to reboot after changes to msconfig.exe. or services. For now, I would just capture the msconfig windows above and disable Windows Search.

Sorry for the delay, I had a bit of a health scare.  No worries, I am doing well and I am eager to get back at it!
 
I disabled the service search as recommended.  Screenshots requested below.  Oh, and I almost forgot.  Apparently I use a "McAfee Livesafe" anti virus program.  I believe you asked me to look into this previously, Mettelus.
 
As always, thanks for your help! 
 
 

 

 
 

Sorry, posted the same pic twice!
 

 

I hope everything is well!
 
I have not used McAfee in years, and it used to be nearly impossible to uninstall, but should have the ability to assign programs/directories as "safe." I am not sure with this one, and some also have a "silent/gaming mode" to them. McAfee is one of those with a bad reputation for lugging down systems, but I will need to dig deeper into this one.
 
The first pic, the "Logitech Download Assistant" seems like a "phone home" utility and could be disabled. Manually running updates is not an issue and you can simply do them when you think of them. I am a bit confused with the "Dell Display Manager" since you have NVIDIA listed, and I would assume NVIDIA alone would be sufficient. I would try disabling the Dell Display Manager initially and see if it affects anything, and re-enable it if it is linked to NVIDIA (otherwise leave it disabled). The rest of that first picture looks fine.
 
For the second, all of the "DELL overhead" is sticking out like a sore thumb. For that screen the two "Bluetooth" entries (for DAW use it is best to leave those off, but you can always start them manually... you just do not want them starting on boot), "Bonjour" and all of the "Dell" ones can be disabled. It looks like "Bonjour" is a network discovery service, which was a primary latency offender for me. If you are adding things to your network, you can do it manually and save the overhead this adds. Leave the Axiom, Fast Track, and McAfee running on that second screen.
 
When you get a chance, can you do that second screenshot again, but scroll down to the enabled items after "McAfee"? It seems that list is only half shown.
 
Once we get these items in order, we still need to look at your buffers.
 
 

Ok, I know it can be annoying to have someone thank you over and over again, so I will try and make this the last "THANK YOU!" 
 
The "Dell Display Manager" came with the touch screen monitor.  I'm not sure if that tells you anything, but I can say that I never use the touch screen.  To be honest, I wasn't even aware of the fact that I was getting the touch screen feature.  It serves me no purpose personally.  Does that change your recommendation?  Ive made all of the changes recommended in your previous post with exception to this.
 
Just to make sure I am not withholding any info, I scrolled down to the bottom of "Services" and took screen shots along the way.  Here's what I came up with...