Realtek HD Audio Manager App Gone

XPS 8100, i5 @ 3.20GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, "THX TruStudio PC" sound, Win 7 64 bit Home, AMD Radeon 5450 1 GB, Intel on board 7.1 ch audio chip. I had an orange speaker icon forever in my taskbar, which I could click on and access the "Realtek HD Audio Manager" Interface. Plus, a white speaker level adjustment icon, right next to it. After a very large Win 7 Auto Update download ( #14 recommended files only, no optional), I no longer can find any trace of the Realtek Manager, except partially empty folders in Win Explorer. With WMP playing an audio CD: When you select the THX TruStudio app, a dialog box comes up, saying "The current audio device is not supported by the application. Do you want to select another audio device? Behind this dialog box, all of the selections in the THX Interface are greyed out. Up to this point, I had never accessed the THX app. I saw no need for it, the Realtek Manager took care of everything. Now, any adjustments have to be accessed by clicking on the speaker image at the top of the speaker volume control, which pops up when you click on the white speaker icon in the Taskbar. When you drag the pointer over the speaker image, it says "HD Audio Device", and the dialog box clicking this opens up is named "Speaker Properties".  *** happened? I did update the Dell R297987 driver, due to distorted CD/streaming playback. That issue is resolved. The Realtek orange speaker icon was missing well before the audio driver update, and very well could have disappeared after the 14 item Win Update, but I can't swear to it. The audio playback is fine now after the driver update, I just want to know what happened to the original configuration. I liked the versatility of the Realtek Manager.   Thx, USOP 31