Running other programs while you record music tracks on your PC is asking for trouble. These programs use up RAM and bog down your processor. Running these programs while you work with audio increases the likelihood that you'll encounter some glitches. The most common glitches are the following:

• Program or system crashes: Your audio application or the other programs could freeze up. If anything freezes, your computer may try to do an impression of road kill.
• Audio clicks, pops, or dropouts: Having your RAM used up by another active program can cause access problems with your audio hard drive.
• Slow graphics: One of the first places you can see stress on your computer is with the graphic redraw in your recording program. (The graphic redraw is the refreshing of the visual images on your screen.) If the visuals start getting jerky, you need to be careful because other problems will likely appear soon.
• Errors in accessing your audio or MIDI hardware: Aside from audio problems such as pops, clicks, and dropouts, hardware errors are the most common result of an overstressed computer. These interruption errors can cause the audio problems, but most often they abort recording or playback.

The best way to avoid these problems is to keep other applications turned off while you work with audio.