[blindLaw] FW: [JAWSBeta-Info] TSN: On Dell computers, Windows becomes sluggish, Virtual memory errors appear, or applications unexpectedly close or crash when Waves MaxxAudio Service is running.

[David Andrews]

I don't know, to be honest. I did not have this 
problem. The only thing I can think of is JAWS 
recent versions allow you to pick a sound card, 
you could see if an option works better, Use jaws 
key with space bar, then v, then c, then up and down arrow and experiment.

Dave

At 09:51 AM 2/24/2022, you wrote:
>Thank you for this helpful note, David. I have 
>been tired of these issues with my Dell XPS. 
>Although the performance significantly improves 
>after disabling the waves max audio service, the 
>laptop stops recognizing all external devices 
>including headphones. I do need to plug in 
>headphones frequently, so it is a bad tradeoff. 
>I was wondering if there is an alternate to 
>waves max audio that would work with the Dell 
>machine? All best, Maitreya. On 2/11/22, 
>Andrews, David B (DEED) via BlindLaw 
><blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote: > Hello 
>Everyone > > For some time now, some people who 
>use the JAWS screen reader occasionally > 
>experience periods of unresponsiveness, slow 
>downs, freezing up, etc. While > this 
>information was anecdotal in nature at first, it 
>turns out there was a > cause. It applies to 
>some Dell laptops and some software they 
>use. > > Personally I had this problem, and have 
>disabled the service on my computer > ­ we shall 
>see. > > > > Subject: Fwd: [JJAWSBeta-Info] TSN: 
>On Dell computers, Windows becomes > sluggish, 
>Virtual memory errors appear, or applications 
>unexpectedly close > or crash when Waves 
>MaxxAudio Service is running. > > This message 
>may be from an external email source. > Do not 
>select links or open attachments unless 
>verified. Report all > suspicious emails to 
>Minnesota IT Services Security Operations 
>Center. > > ________________________________ > > 
>Hello, > > > > I thought it would be a good idea 
>for all of you to be aware of this issue > with 
>Waves MaxxAudio Service that comes with many 
>Dell systems. This can > affect users with JAWS, 
>Fusion, or ZoomText installed: > 
>https://support.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Bulletin/1786<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.freedomscientific.com%2FSupport%2FTechnicalSupport%2FBulletin%2F1786&data=04%7C01%7Cdavid.b.andrews%40state.mn.us%7Cbd244a65d30140be40c008d9ec1fc7ee%7Ceb14b04624c445198f26b89c2159828c%7C0%7C0%7C637800443507475455%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=bjiAzw%2F7d3Cxq0mMs2bPIaVvHPegHRvy6MvoHIbcPbs%3D&reserved=0>  
> > > > > Short Description > > On Dell 
>computers, Windows becomes sluggish, Virtual 
>memory errors appear, > or applications 
>unexpectedly close or crash when Waves MaxxAudio 
>Service is > running. > > Problem > > If your 
>Dell PC or laptop uses the Waves MaxxAudio 
>Service for its onboard > audio chipset, 
>problems may occur the longer you use the 
>computer. Windows® > may become sluggish. 
>Applications such as JAWS® or Microsoft Teams 
>may > close or crash unexpectedly. Virtual 
>memory errors might occur. > > See the Detailed 
>Description section below before continuing to 
>the Solution > if you wish to have more 
>background information. > > Solution > > To 
>disable or enable the Waves MaxxAudio Service 
>Application: > >   1.  Open Task Manager (the 
>shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+ESC). >   2.  Press the 
>TAB key once. If this navigates to More Details, 
>then press > the SPACEBAR to show more 
>details. >   3.  Navigate to the Startup 
>tab. >   4.  Navigate to the list of items 
>table. >   5.  Type w to navigate to the items 
>starting with the letter w. >   6.  Press the 
>DOWN ARROW, if needed to navigate to Waves 
>MaxxAudio Service > Application. If it is not in 
>the list, then this is not the cause of the > 
>problem. >   7.  With Waves MaxxAudio Service 
>Application selected, press ALT+A to > disable 
>it. >   8.  Restart the computer. >   9.  Use 
>the computer for a few hours or so, without 
>rebooting, until you > are convinced the 
>performance issues no longer exist. This may 
>take several > sessions. >   10. If the problem 
>persists and you want to reenable Waves 
>MaxxAudio > Service Application, follow steps 1 
>through 8 but in step 8, press ALT+N to > enable 
>it. > > Note: > > The only real downside to 
>disabling the Waves MaxxAudio Service 
>Application > is that the PC will no longer 
>dynamically respond to plugging in a different > 
>output audio device. For example, if you plug in 
>headphones, the computer > will not use them 
>until rebooting. > > Detailed Description > > 
>Problem: Many computers include an onboard audio 
>chipset that uses the > “Waves Sound Maxx 
>Audio o Service†. When this service is 
>running, your > systeem performance is impacted 
>when your system̢۪s on-bo-board audio is 
>being > used by various audio apps. 
>Accessibility software is an example of audio > 
>software which makes use of the system̢۪s 
>audio interface in a way wy which > has an 
>impact on how the Waves Maxx Audio Service 
>processes audio. The > result is that over time, 
>your system memory is not freed as 
>applications > like a screen reader submit audio 
>to be output. Eventually, your system will > 
>begin making heavy use of the Virtual memory and 
>memory pages. At some point > enough memory will 
>be used where Windows will need to begin 
>closing > applications to recover memory so that 
>the system can continue to operate. > When 
>Windows unexpectedly closes application 
>processes an application will > either 
>gracefully quit or an application may crash. For 
>example, the > Microsoft Teams software will 
>often crash, whereas Google Chrome may simply > 
>exit gracefully. No crash dumps are generally 
>generated when these symptoms > occur. > > 
>Troubleshoot: To troubleshoot your system, run 
>the msinfo32 app and tab to > the system summary 
>of information and if you find that the amount 
>of > available physical memory is less than 2 
>GB, typically as low as 850 MB of > available 
>memory, and if the system is using a large 
>amount of virtual > memory as much as 3 to 4 
>times your physical amount of memory, and your 
>page > file space is significantly greater than 
>it usually is when you first boot > up the 
>machine, then it is very likely you have this 
>issue. You can check > this by rebooting your 
>system and then load msinfo32. Examine the 
>memory > values that are listed under Summary. 
>Once you know your startup values you > can use 
>the machine for 3 or 4 hours. After that time, 
>if you examine the > same msinfo32 information 
>and you find you have little memory left or > 
>unexpectedly large amounts of memory is being 
>used when you have almost no > 3rd party apps 
>running, then you likely have this issue. > > 
>For example, for a typical system with 16GB of 
>physical RAM we would expect > Windows 10 to 
>bootup and have all services running with around 
>12.8 GB of > RAM available of use. The total 
>Virtual memory would typically be 18GB of > RAM 
>with the available virtual memory of 14.8GB and 
>a Page file space of > 2.8GB. If after 8 hours 
>of use we close all applications and reexamine 
>the > msinfo32 summary information we should 
>find the memory values to be near the > values 
>we had when we first booted up. It may be a 
>little bit lower but if > you have the issue 
>described here then you would find the amount of 
>physical > memory to be less than 1GB of RAM and 
>the total Virtual Memory to be 48GB or > greater 
>and the amount of Page file space to be more 
>than 8GB. We have seen > that Windows can have 
>significant performance issues and even will 
>begin > closing apps in as little as 2 hours of 
>use. This largely depends on how > much one is 
>using the machine. > > Cause: The issue is not 
>an issue directly caused by the accessibility > 
>software or by audio software like Teams. It is 
>actually caused by the Waves > Max Audio 
>Service. We are in discussion with the 
>manufacturer to see what > can be done. But, for 
>now, there is no good solution that Vispero 
>can > programmatically implement in our software 
>which solves the problem. Intel > will need to 
>implement a solution on their end. Fortunately, 
>the Waves Max > Audio Service is not essential 
>to the functioning of your computer̢۪s > 
>audio. Applicaications, including screen readers 
>and low vision software and > other 3rd party 
>applications that use audio can make use of the 
>Realtek > audio device without the use of the 
>Sound Maxx Audio Service. > > Workaround 
>Solution: Follow the Solution section above to 
>prevent the Waves > MaxxAudio Service 
>Application from starting when the computer 
>turns on. > > The following command line is 
>another option to temporarily end the Waves > 
>MaxxAudio Service until the next reboot if you 
>still want the service to > automatically start 
>up when the computer turns on: > >   1.  Open 
>cmd.exe as an elevated 
>Administrator. >   2.  Type the following 
>command: “taskkill /F /IM 
>Wavessvc64.exexe† and > press ENTER. > > > 
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> > -- Maitreya Shah (he/ him) LLM Candidate and 
>Dean’s Merit Scholar, University of 
>Pennsylvania Law School (2021-22) Associate 
>Editor, University of Pennsylvania’s Asian Law 
>Review (2021-22) B.A. LL.B (Hons.), Gujarat 
>National Law University (2015-20) +91 8320964462 
>| +1 908 720 8795 
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