I have an issue with an old Highlights Puzzlemania kids game. When the game is started it automaticaly adjusts the system volume so that it's way too loud. The game was designed for Win 95/98 and works fine whether in compatibility mode or not. No other games on the pc change the volume by themselves and there are no sound options in the game. I'm thinking it's just a compatability problem with xp, but maybe somebody knows a quick fix.

This may be a greed problem on the part of the game maker.

Or maybe you have your system audio settings set weird.

First, find your audio mixer. It should be a device in Control Panel, or something called Audio Devices. Open it up (a button marked "advanced" is needed in XP). Note the settings of the various sliders.

Start the game and run it a bit. Now click on the audio mixer to bring it to the top, and look at the positions of the sliders again. If any have changed, the game is changing them.

If not, it might just be that the game uses one of the devices the sliders control which the other programs you have do not use. In this case, just turn down that slider.

If the game does control the level, find out which slider it changes. Change the master level and the level on the external amp (usually on one speaker) so the game level is correct for your ears. Alternate restarting the game, and opening other applications, to verify that it stays at the same level. Then set the OTHER sliders in the mixer so your other applications sound right.