Tips: Sound Volume Control in Windows

[Tricklozen]

(Windows Vista is probably a different story.)

The sound volume control is where you control the level of sound output or input, and also select active inputs. These controls may also be directly available from an application.

Here are three tips regarding the sound volume control in Windows.

Tip 1:3 - An awful waste of space.

Action: Press Control + S when the sound volume control window is active to toggle between the use of icons.

Consequence 1:2 - Advanced controls are hidden. Press Control + S again to reveal them (if they are enabled from the Options menu, that is).

Consequence 2:2 - Closing the sound volume control will make it remember whether it should show icons and advanced controls. This applies to both playback and recording views.

Tip 2:3 - Start the sound volume control in the recording control view.

Background: Usually you have to do this: (1) Start the sound volume control, which opens in playback control view. (2) Go to the Options menu and select Properties. (3) Change the selection from playback to recording and click OK.

Action: Choose to create a shortcut and copy/paste the following string as the path to the file:

%windir%\system32\sndvol32.exe /R

Click Next and choose a suitable name, such as Recording.

Consequence: You have a new shortcut.

(You can, of course, do the same for the playback control by omitting this switch.)

Tip 3:3 - Those with several sound cards.

Same as tip 2, however, add the switch /D followed by a number, starting from 0 to identify the first device.

Action: Choose to create a shortcut and copy/paste the following string as the path to the file:

%windir%\system32\sndvol32.exe /D 0

Source: SndVol32.exe