Is there a known audio issue with a recent Win 7 update?

[tkmops]

Is there a known audio issue with a recent Win 7 update?

I watch TV and movies on my Win 7 PC, 23" widescreen monitor, with the audio sent to a stand-alone 'stereo'(5.1 receiver).

Recently, a few weeks ago, after a MS Win 7 update, my audio started sounding garbled, poppy, clicky, thumpy, and the longer times between reboots, screechy. After a reboot, the audio is fine for about a day or so, then goes 'bad'.

Is anyone aware of a recent Win 7 update that would cause this? And if so, has MS put out a 'patch' for it? If not, should I 'back out' that update?

I've checked the following:

1) receiver is OK, as stand-alone CD/DVD players play audio/video fine.

2) The cables between my PC and receiver are plugged in tight, not broken, or bent.   

3) Ran the mdsched.exe(Windows Memory Diagnostic), came back OK.

I'm current with all MS updates, there is one Nvidia  Graphics Adapter update that I would prefer not doing, as a few years back, I updated my GPU and it totally messed up my WMP. Does the Nvidia card just process video, or does it also process audio? If it does process audio, maybe that's the issue?

Anyone have any 'tests' that I can do to locate the issue that's causing sound to go bad about a day after rebooting?

Win 7, 16GB RAM, with all current MS updates.

Thanks!

[Lisa_maree]

There was an update for windows 7 from 4 years ago which caused a problem with Realtek sound chips that was fixed in the next update. Which update do you think has caused this? If it was a driver update then i would roll back the driver.

[tkmops]

I'm not sure that it was a Win update....just that the sound problems started right after. The last Win OS update was Update for Microsoft Windows (KB4532945)' installed on 2/9/20. I have not updated my RealTek audio drivers, as they are up-to-date.

[tkmops]

Just discovered, that while my internet was down for an hour, I had no sound issues. As soon as my internet came back, the sound issues started again. Not sure why this is.

As it SEEMS LIKE my bad audio only occurs when my internet is active(my internet went down for an hour, and the audio I was playing stopped being garbled.
 
Is it a known issue that the most current Win 7 update 'Update for Microsoft Windows (KB4532945)' installed on 2/9/20, affects the 'network adapter'(Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller)? 

If so, is there is fix for this?