Ed Bott - Windows 10 Support Secrets

84 CHAPTER 6 | Taking charge of hardware Figure 6-7: This Windows 10 PC has two audio devices attached to it. Using the arrow to the right of the Set Default button, you can set one as the Default Communications Device, leaving the other for music and system sounds. As long as you have that dialog box open, it’s useful to test your current audio configuration, especially if you have a multichannel speaker setup. After choosing the default sound device, click Configure, select your speaker setup, and then click Test, as shown in the next graphic. That plays a series of test sounds through all the speakers connected to your device. The other hidden audio feature that more Windows users should know about is the Volume Mixer, which you can use to rock out with your favorite music app without also blasting every system sound at full volume. To open Volume Mixer, right-click the speaker icon in the notification area and then choose Open Volume Mixer. That opens a set of controls like the ones shown in Figure 6-8.