Microphone sounding choppy, like a dalek or robotic in Steam games - I finally found a fix for me!

[Godi]

For many months I have been struggling with my mic sounding choppy, robotic or like a dalek when playing multiplayer games on Steam such as Left for Dead 2 or Counter Strike: Global Operations.

Steam techincal support suggested that third party sound manager programs hog the sound card and this is often the cause of the issue. They mentioned Realtek and other HD sound manager applications, but the one which had caused me the problem was produced by Creative Technology and is listed in my startup as CTXfiHlp application which runs CTXFIHLP.EXE

If anyone else is having a similar problem, take a look at your Windows startup items and try disabling applications relating to audio. I found the solution by trial and error and the process of elimination as there are two on my list, the other being CtHelper or CTHELPER.EXE - when I disabled this one was disabled I had no sound at all.

My sound card is an E-MU 0404 by Creative Technology Limited, but I suspect the same principle will aplly to other makes of sound card. Hope this is of assistance to others.