Disable Sleep and Hibernate

1. Open Settings → System → Power & Sleep
2. Set Sleep to Never
3. Open Control Panel → Power Options → Change plan settings → Change advanced power settings
4. Expand Sleep and set Hibernate after to Never

Switch to High Performance Power Plan

The balanced power plan throttles your CPU during quiet periods, which can cause audio dropouts.

1. Open Control Panel → Power Options
2. Select High Performance

Disable Windows System Sounds

Windows notification sounds can bleed into your audio output and go on-air.

1. Open Control Panel → Sound
2. Click the Sounds tab
3. Set Sound Scheme to No Sounds
4. Click Apply

Disable Automatic Windows Restarts

1. Open Settings → Windows Update → Advanced Options
2. Configure Active Hours to cover your broadcast schedule
3. Enable Notify to schedule restart rather than allowing automatic reboots

Configure Automatic Login

If your broadcast PC restarts, Windows must log in automatically so SAM can start without someone typing a password.

1. Press Windows + R
2. Type netplwiz and press Enter
3. Uncheck Users must enter a username and password to use this computer
4. Enter your password when prompted and click OK

Disable USB Power Saving

If you use a USB audio device, Windows may disconnect it to save power.

1. Open Device Manager
2. Expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers
3. Right-click each USB Root Hub → Properties → Power Management
4. Uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power

Antivirus Exclusions

Real-time scanning of audio files can cause dropouts and slow library loading. Add exclusions for:

• Your audio library folders
• The SAM Broadcaster Pro installation folder
• The SAM Broadcaster Pro database folder