Windows 7 Update caused sound glitch

Hello

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium on a Dell Inspiron 1545.

I recently encountered an issue with my computer where there was some sort of memory leak that was causing constant freeze ups. Also, the sound on on any sort of media (iTunes, Netflix, youtube, etc.) would glitch every 30 seconds or so. By that I mean it would sound as if the computer was lagging, but it was not always happening at the same times the computer freezing was.

After some research I determined that a Dell wireless driver was causing the memory leak, so I uninstalled it and the computer was no longer freezing up. However, the sound issue was still occuring. After a few days of great frustration, I decided to just reformat my computer. The sound was working fine after the reformat, but then I installed all of the Windows updates and it is glitchy again.

I'm not sure what update did it as there were so many, but I uninstalled the service pack 1, but it didnt change anything, so I reinstalled it.

I have determined that it is a software issue and not hardware as if I plug headphones in I still get the glitch and when I did a Linux live boot, the sound worked fine.

I have run these tools, but they have found nothing:

• 
  [ ]Windows Memory Diagnostic
   
  [ ]Windows performance troubleshooter
  [ ]Windows audio troubleshooter
  [ ]System File Check
  [ ]MalwareBytes, Microsoft Security Essentials, Avira
  

I have also installed every and any driver I can find, but nothing has changed.

I am not sure what caused the initial problem before I reinstalled Windows as I hadn't downloaded anything or installed any new programs in at least 2 weeks. I've had the laptop for over a year and had no issues with it. This may sound crazy, but on the day of the initial memory issues, there were high levels of Aurora activity due to a large solar flare; I have heard that the electromagnetic interference can screw with technology, but that seems a little farfetched to me.

If anyone has even the slightest idea what it could be, please let me know. I have been trying to fix this for almost a month now.

Thank you,

Jesse Ferland

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