Windows 7 lowers game sound when starting skype call

I have an issue where starting a call on skype (or using mumble, teamspeak etc) makes the sounds of games, music players and whatnot mute.

I have read a lot of posts on several forums saying that I should just go to the communications tab in "sound" and select "Do nothing"... This does absolutly nothing whatsoever. The volume of games etc. stays on 0%.

I first thought this was a problem with skype, but since all programs like it gives me the same issues i figure this is down to a windows issue.

I have also reinstalled my audio drivers. No luck.


Anyone have any other ideas?

This is actually not true since all programs registered as communication programs actually uses the audio volume lowering feature in windows 7 unless the setting for this is set to "Do nothing" (instead of the "lower all other sound by 80%/50%/mute"). What im wondering is if theres anything else windows does when a communication application is detected.

I'm sorry. Of cource you know this better than I do.

So it's skype that calls the function via an API then?

I assumed that the applications registered to a handler within windows that listens for communication activity (since the communication volume functionality is a setting in windows and not in skype/mumble)


I've gone through the skype and mumble forums and have posted threads. All suggestions I get are that the problem is related to windows, not the applications themselvs.

I've checked all settings in skype and mumble but changing them does not solve my problem. I have, with the help of my friends, made an identical installation on a different computer with the same setup as mine. Same settings on skype, same version. They do not suffer from this. The only difference is that they run professional x64 and i run home x64 addition.

It would seem this is an issue that very few are suffering from.