Audio buzz and video cut-out caused by volume shadow service errors during updates and other services that create shadow copies

Question

I have this issue and see throughout the Internet that my problem is shared by large numbers of other Windows 7 users, and a few Windows 8 users.
I also see that Microsoft has not addressed the issue.
I've been troubleshooting the problem for 13 months and across 3 separate hard drives on 2 separate computers, with the help of tech escalation from both Carbonite and Dell (whom I wanted to eliminate as causes, and who have been kind enough to assist even
after being eliminated as causes because they evidently care about customer service).
Over 13 months we have run system diagnostics, reinstalls and repairs to no avail.  We have been able to reproduce the event in the absence of every attached device, every installed program, every subscribed service, and every hardware type and configuration. 
We have visited chat rooms showing that this is a widespread problem (e.g., http://superuser.com/questions/630033/audio-video-glitch-when-shadow-copy-service-starts), and that even professional server administrators simply consign themselves to VSS being "the
bane of backup software" (http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/229743-problem-with-vss-writer-system-writer-timed-out).
Yet regardless of the computer or the configuration, the problem persists.  It causes characteristic and alarming disk write error and memory spikes on the Resource Monitor that can be traced to huge numbers on the System 4 and VSSVC.exe processes, occurring
every time the Volume Shadow Copy Service and Application Experience create a restore point during an automatic update of Adobe, antivirus, etc.; and one can even provoke an event simply by manually creating a restore point, which has the bonus of triggering
an 8220 notice that the Volume Shadow Service has run out of time while deleting files.  And the only advice I've seen from MS is that this is a "normal condition."
It is not normal to be unable to enjoy audio and video.  And it is certainly not normal for one's PC to continually degrade with every update until it becomes unable to update and must be replaced. 
I am on my 3rd computer with this problem (different type and configuration each time), and Dell has offered me an upgrade to Windows 8 in the hopes that the problem will not recur there.  But I see from Microsoft's tech chat that Windows 8 users are reporting
the problem as well (http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-pictures/after-upgrading-to-windows-8-pro-there-is-an/813432c2-14f1-463f-bba3-ad322ceb6e00).
Please, please post a real answer to this problem.  Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi,
Above all I understand the frustration as a same issue persists for a very long time.
At first I'm thinking if it is directly related to the application CrashPlan some customers mentioned in one of the threads you provided. However I then noticed that you said it could be also reproduced by creating a System Restore point.
Currently I cannot find a Windows 7 system so I used a Windows 8.1 laptop (also Dell) for testing.
I tried to play an online video and also a local video with creating a restore point in the middle. However I failed to reproduce the same behavior. 
The following screenshot was captured in second test (play a local video):
I cannot confirm if it is because we have a large physical memory (8GB), or Windows 8.1 resolved this issue. From the screenshot, memory is not spiked (actually it is almost not changed).
So in current situation you can test to enlarge the size of physical memory (and virtual memory) for test if available. And as Dell provided a Windows 8 system, you can try it before and after installing Windows 8.1.
As a support engineer I also hope to help fix the issue or at least find out the cause. Later I will try to find a Windows 7 system for testing as well. 
In addition, please understand that as the issue occurs mostly in Windows 7, though it seems related to VSS, it is still a Windows client system issue. So you can post the question to Windows 7 forum for further information. Here is the link:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/w7itpro/
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