If I remember correctly, on my old comp that had a SoundBlaster LIVE and later an Audigy, when my Mic was plugged in, unless I muted it, it played right through the speakers at all times no matter what. On my Dell laptop with the onboard sound (SigmaTel), this is not the case. I can record the audio from the mic, but to listen I must record and playback. I'm using my Mic as an input for my police scanner to listen to it while playing music. Anyone know a way to make the Mic always active, to loop through the speakers, without first recording it?

Windows 95 and up by default mutes the mic, for whatever sound chipset you are using, in the main sound mixer - e.g. the mixer settings you see in XP when you RIGHT click on the speaker icon in your taskbar and choose Open Volume Control. Whenever you use a program that can use a mic, the mic is supposed to be and usually is un-muted automatically in that main sound mixer, and automatically muted again when you exit the program that uses the mic. If you want the mic to be audible all the time, you can un-mute the mic in the main sound mixer and the mic will not automatically mute when you exit a program that can use a mic. Microsoft probably chose to mute the mic there by default because most people find the mic being on all the time annoying.

If you don't see a mic volume control in the main mixer, in the Volume Control window, choose Options - Properties, click on the small box beside Mic Volume to make a checkmark appear - after the the Mic Volume will appear in the mixer settings.

Windows 95 and up by default mutes the mic, for whatever sound chipset you are using, in the main sound mixer - e.g. the mixer settings you see in XP when you RIGHT click on the speaker icon in your taskbar and choose Open Volume Control. Whenever you use a program that can use a mic, the mic is supposed to be and usually is un-muted automatically in that main sound mixer, and automatically muted again when you exit the program that uses the mic. If you want the mic to be audible all the time, you can un-mute the mic in the main sound mixer and the mic will not automatically mute when you exit a program that can use a mic. Microsoft probably chose to mute the mic there by default because most people find the mic being on all the time annoying.

... maybe once more for good measure? I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.

I know how to unmute the mic, and already have made sure it's not muted. But now that it's unmuted, the feed from the Mic goes no where unless I open a recording application, which will record the audio from it. I want to have whats on the Mic feed back through the speakers, without having to first record it. Similar to the way a PA system works, microphone directly to speakers.

Sometimes another programs that can use a mic is not properly written and if the mic is muted in that program it stays muted regardless of the setting in the main mixer, unless another program that can use a mic is being used - make sure the mic is not muted or turned all the way down in volume in a program other than the main mixer. E.g. some versions of Dragon Naturally Speaking do that.