HARDWARE & SOFTWARE

DVD audio issues in Windows 7




Windows 7 runs well even on old notebooks, say reviewers, and in general they're right. But we have seen reports of problems, for example with DVD audio, where movie sound is either completely unintelligible or doesn't appear at all.


Should anything similar happen to you then head off to Control Panel, click Hardware and Sound > Sound, right-click your current default playback device (it'll have a green tick displayed) and select Properties.


Then click Advanced, clear any settings in the Exclusive Mode box and click OK. You've now ensured that older or badly-behaved drivers can't take complete control of the speakers any more, and this alone will often be enough to get your system working again. (But if it doesn't, installing new audio drivers is your next best option.)