bad Sound or Microphone in vista

Windows Vista sound is too quiet or too low
How do I fix it?

So, you've turned up all the volume knobs to 100% and it still doesn't cut it??

Here's two less than obvious solutions:

1. Go to start > control panel > sound > (playback tab should already be selected) > speakers > properties > levels > Balance > Make sure all channels are set to 100% and the sliders are all to the right

2. OR if you have "Noise Cancelling" head phones, MANY of those require batteries as well as being powered by the pc. so check for a battery compartment on your headphones if they are too quiet. That might help levels on your attached microphone as well.

More obvious answers

1. click speaker icon in the lower right hand corner of the start bar and increase all levels to 100%
2. go to windows media player and increase sound to 100%

Microphone on my head phones or earpiece doesn't work in Vista

Go to start > control panel > sound > recording tab > select Microphone and hit "Set Default" button. Do this Even if there isn't a volume indicator on the far right, or if the volume indicator is showing activity on other lines. Hit "Properties" button for microphone and click the speaker icon -make sure it is unmuted! Than you can do microphone boost to increase the sound.