Windows 7 has made using your computer much easier – but the on-screen volume controls are still a little elusive:

Clicking the white speaker symbol in the taskbar pops up a single volume control, underneath which is a link to the audio mixer. But, saith I, that’s a little cumbersome; especially when you can have a decent-sized icon on your desktop which causes the mixer to pop-up on screen instantly with one click or double-click; depending upon how you have your settings set.

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We’re going to create a desktop icon which will call up the sound mixer. The procedure isn’t exactly rocket science:

Right-click an empty area of the Windows 7 desktop and hover your cursor over “New”. In the list that appears, select “Shortcut” by clicking on it.

In the text-input line below where it says “Type the location of the item:” enter “SndVol”. (Without the inverted commas.)

Press return on your keyboard.

In the following text-input bar, below the words “Type a name for this shortcut”, ignore the highlighted “SndVol.exe” and type “Sound Mixer”. (Without the inverted commas.) : -

Press return on your keyboard

You’ll now see that you have a brand new icon on your desktop with a picture, the contents of which include a screen with a picture of a loudspeaker on it. – OK I named it Sound Volume in the illustration, but no big deal:

Click that icon and the sound mixer will instantly appear, as if by magic.

… Which all goes to show that not only do I take you beyond the comfort-zone with this blog; I also actually improve your comfort-zone too. – All without having to find that elusive “any” key.

A bit of Windows 7 hassle averted on Beyond: Hardware + Software + Practical Electronics.

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