XP users have always been able to shrink the XP volume control by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting “Shrink Volume.” This command shrinks the XP volume to its original size. However, this command does not work if the user has a custom background image or wallpaper on their desktop. To shrink the XP volume control using a custom background image or wallpaper, first open an administrative tool such as Windows Explorer and navigate to your desktop. Then right-click on your desktop and select “Shrink Volume.”
For today’s Stupid Geek Trick, we’re going to show you how to shrink the XP volume control with a keystroke. And just so I can use my favorite wallpaper, we’re talking about the volume control when you double-click on the Volume icon in the tray.
Once the dialog is up, hit the Ctrl+S key combination…
And your volume control should shrink down to a mini version! Using the same key combination again will change it back to the big version.
Note that you can also remove some of the sliders that you might not use by going to Options \ Properties, and then unchecking everything you don’t need.
In case you are wondering, this doesn’t work in Vista. Got any more fun geek tricks? Share them in the comments.
