Hello again.
For some unfathomable reason, the volume levels on my pc have diminished quite considerably which is a nuisance as I use sound quite a lot. I have been to control panel and the volume is set high as it should be, the speakers are turned up full. I cannot work out why the volume has gone from loud to barely audible. Any ideas?

PS yes I have checked to make sure nothing is covering the speakers, after my wireless fiasco I check for the obvious first

Well I seemed to have solved the problem with systems restore, I set my pc back to an earlier date and I have my volume back. Good to know it was my pc and not me going deaf. I wonder what I did though to lose 90% of my volume in the first place.

I don't know what might have caused the lack of volume, or if it might have been cured a different way.

What a wonderful thing System Restore is sometimes

i love threads like this one - although I have no idea of the answer they always remind me to make a new restore point juuuuuuuust in case!

I've lost count of the times I've used system restore, it's been an absolute lifesaver to me on many occasions

Of course I couldn't find it now that someone asked but I found this in help.

To create a Restore Point

Access the System Restore Wizard through Help and Support Center.
Click Create a restore point, and then click Next.
In the Restore point description box, type a name to identify this restore point. System Restore automatically adds to this name the date and time that this Restore Point is created.
To finish creating this restore point, click Create.
To cancel restore point creation and return to the Welcome to System Restore screen, click Back.
To cancel restore point creation and exit the System Restore Wizard, click Cancel.

Reading the help files is something I never think to do ...but then men usually only resort to reading the instructions for anything if all else fails.

It doesn't really matter how you get to the System Restore function but there should also be a shortcut to it in the the Start Menu.

OK, I have created a restore point. I will try to remember to do it on a regular basis.

Restore points get created automatically anyway, so it isn't entirely necessary to make them. Quoting from this Microsoft page:

'For example, restore points are created before new device drivers, automatic updates, unsigned drivers, and some applications are installed. These healthy system checkpoints are created without prompting or intervention from the user the first time the computer is started after Windows XP is installed and, by default, on a daily basis after that. You can also manually create restore points.

The only time I make them manually is if I'm going to make changes to the computer (install a program for example) that I may not want to keep. Although a restore point may be made automatically, I prefer to be sure and make one manually. When making a restore point manually, it can be given a name that can easily be easily found again in the choices of restore points. For example, make a Restore Point called 'pre-Firefox Beta' just prior to installing this program. It saves remembering the date the installation was made.

With 50ftqueenie's sound problem, I'm guessing that one of the automatically created restore points was used. If you have a fault, it's not difficult to choose a date to go back to. For example today there is a sound fault but it wasn't there two days ago, so just go back to the closest date before the sound went wrong.

There are those who prefer not to use System Restore. Each restore point takes up disk space. Also, if a restore point is made when there is malware on the system, this will be stored in the back-up as well. So it could possibly happen that you restore bad, as well as good, data. See what Microsoft say about viruses and System Restore:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831829

I sometimes delete all restore points. If the computer has been running well for a week or so and I'm sure I'm not going to need any restore points ..ever, I'll turn System Restore off and then back on again (deletes the restore points), Since that clears a bit of disk space, a defrag is done after that.

I must do a defrag sometime, I haven't in ages.