Do you really think that it is the sound processing that is causing the problem? Is there anything I can check to confirm it?
I just looked on
www.pcworld.co.uk at sound cards, wow! They range from £7.99 to£120
(CREATIVE - SOUNDBLASTER X-Fi PLATINUM - SOUND CARD). Are there any specific features I should look out for, I would assume anything is better than the built in audio. For those who know about this sort of the thing and are interested the following comes from the manual regarding the audio:
It has Audio Modem Riser (AMR) which is a port that supports both audio and modem. The backbone of this is on AC'97 compliant AC-Link
with support for codes.
I'll try and find some time this weekend to do the testing on anti-virus and firewalls.