THIS COMPUTER TIP IS SPONSORED BY:
DISKEEPER CORPORATION - "DEVELOPERS OF NEW DISKEEPER 2007"
LITEON IT - "A LEADER IN OPTICAL STORAGE"

I was brainstorming for new tip ideas the other day and I got to thinking that we have never done a tip on the basics of your computer's volume controls before. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, go down to your system tray and double click on the little speaker icon (it looks like this: ). A new window will then open that is titled Master Volume. You'll see a bunch of sliders you can move around that help you get the perfect sound for your computer. But, what are you supposed to do with all of those? What do all the terms mean? Well, keep reading and I'll tell you!

The first one you'll see is for the Master Volume itself. This is the one that gives you the most sound, depending on how much you want. It will let you know how loud it is by a little "thump" noise, so you can listen for that as well. The next one is Wave. The wave control has to do with any music you may play with special software, such as WaveOut. This one doesn't really affect your direct sound too much.

After that comes the SW Synth. First of all, synth stands for synthesizer and this one deals with any synthesizing that has to be done within the software programs you use. This one is important if you're listening to a music CD or playing a game on your computer. The next one is CD/Video In and as you can probably guess, it comes into play with any audio or video files you may play on your PC. Lastly, there are the Line In and Microphone options. These both have to do with the connectors on your actual computer tower. Line In is mainly used for a stereo sound and the Microphone comes into play when you're using a mic along with your computer.

Again, each control comes with a slider you can move up or down to get a sound volume you prefer. You can also control the balance of each by using the Balance slider. I personally like to have all mine set in the middle, with the Master Volume just a little bit higher. But either way you like it, you're now in sole control of your computer's volume.