Problems with Vista?

Sadly I was forced to upgrade to Vista :( Traktor 3 doesn't seem to have any problems but I haven't tested it all the way yet, but I have had a problem with Traktor Scratch.
For some strange reason the music will completely cut out for about a second than pick right back off where it left off. I've made sure my time coded vinyl and needles are clean. It happens completely randomly, never in the same place of the record or place of the song. It first happened to me while I was playing a gig... about 4 times.
Has anyone had any problems with Traktor 3 or Scratch on Vista?

Make sure you have ALL updates (SP1)
You MUST tweak Vista and disable some unusable services
Make sure you have the latest audio drivers for your sound card

I was also reluctant to use Vista for my DJ laptop... but once tweaked.. I will not go back to XP. (Just hoping M-Audio releases Vista SP1 drivers for Trigger Finger) I will NOT remove SP1, since SP1 really enhanced performance and helps a lot in tweaking.

SP1 actually made a lot of improvements to audio so its a good update to be using.
As per usual windows installs really need tweaking to get the best performance - also make sure to shut down all your networking devices when your mixing for better performance - it makes a big difference.

Using Traktor DJ Studio and Vista for ages, even while doing the "Aero" theme. It rocks!

(Oh and damn, I even need to install my sound drivers and ASIO4all. ;) )

*~Let's do that now.~* :D

I formatted my hard drive completely using DBAN and reinstalled Vista. I used all the suggestions given. I was using SP1 already. Traktor Scratch version was 1.3.1. I was using the 1.6.4 driver for the Audio 8 DJ so I updated to the 1.6.8. I shut down all third party processes like antivirus but that seemed to only help a little. All this done and it still cuts out. Before I updated to the 1.6.8 driver it did something even more bizarre than just cut out! It would randomly start playing the track in reverse.... I've pretty much gotten to the point of hoping that the problem will get resolved by SP2 for Vista or Windows 7. Traktor Pro. Just getting a better system? I've been looking into running Traktor on the Ubuntu Linux distro but so far haven't heard of any successful stories.

Taz:

Do you mind telling us your computer specs? This way I can try and help you more.
I may even send you a few pics on how your settings should be set to..

Sorry I thought I did in the original post. I am using a Latitude D520, Intel Core 2 Duo 1.67 GHz. 2.5 GB RAM. Mobile Intel Chipset 256 MB. Windows Vista Business 32 bit. If you want any additional specs let me know.

Taz:

For starters... here are a couple of things you can try setting up.

1. Start/Run/Msconfing. - Disable/Stop any unnecessary services under Services and Startup (Reboot PC)
2. Audio Setup/SoundCard/Card latency setting: 10ms
3. Audio Setup/SoundCard/Sample Rate: 44100
4. Deck Preferences/Transport/Cache: 8Mb
5. Deck Preferences/Sound & Mixer/Time Stretch Quality: Non Adaptive
6. Test Scratch and let us know..

I can't get any audio running with my new Dell Latitiude E6500 and Vista unless I turn off the wireless radio. Same machine works perfectly with XP. I haven't had the time yet to figure out if I can get the wireless stuff on to a different IRQ, but maybe someday.

My old D820 with XP was so rock solid that I was actually able to download tracks during a gig with no audio glitches at all.

subVert:

The problem with certain PC builders/manufactures like Dell.. is that even though there is a particular model (D6500, D830, etc) the production line usually ran out of a certain part (equipment) and they use another one for certain production batches.

This is especially true with graphic cards, sound cards and network cards. This makes it more difficult to troubleshoot...

Even without taking this into consideration... every machine is different, and needs its own tweaking.