What Is This? Windows Basics

11. Volume Control

Sometimes you will be watching a video or listening to a conversation or music and need to adjust the volume.  Most video players will have volume controls directly on the screen that you can adjust using your mouse but you can also control the volume directly on your computer.  You will sometimes need to adjust both volume controls to get the correct volume. 

Look for an icon that looks like a loudspeaker on the right side of the taskbar at the bottom of your screen and click on it to adjust the volume. 

You should also be able to see this volume icon directly on your keyboard as part of the function keys (F keys) at the top of the keyboard.  Unfortunately, their exact location varies with each model of computer!  There are three sound keys here:  one will mute your audio; one will increase your audio; and, one will decrease your audio. 

If you have tried all these adjustments and still cannot hear anything, check that you do not have headphones plugged into your computer.  If unplugging the headphones does not solve the problem, you may have to go into your computer audio settings to tell the computer to use the computer speakers rather than the headphone speakers.  These settings are located in the Control Panel.