Stupid Geek Tricks: Shrink the XP Volume Control

If you’ve just done something in front of a non-geek that surprises them enough to ask “How’d you do that?”, you’ve probably performed a Stupid Geek Trick. Usually these tricks aren’t anything complicated, just little known fun tricks that we like to share.

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.

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. This article was written on 09/29/08 and tagged with: The Geek Blog, Windows

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Comments (12)

1. September 30, 2008 3:20 am
   sul2005tan

   That is funny tricks ^^ thank you Geek

2. September 30, 2008 8:10 am
   David

   pretty kool!!!

3. September 30, 2008 11:29 am
   kbmxpxfan

   Why is this not in the settings? I actually NEED this in order to see all my sliders!

4. September 30, 2008 12:34 pm
   skrollan

   don’t know why, but i love this one, volume control looks better right now
   ty

5. October 1, 2008 12:46 pm
   Chris

   In Vista, if you want rename multiple files in Explorer without having to resort to mouse + click + f2 each time. When renaming a file, instead of pressing enter when you’re done, press tab. Explorer will automatically advance to the next file in the list.

   Not sure if this works on folders, but you can try.

   Cheers!

6. October 2, 2008 11:34 pm
   zmtin

   I like this. Thanks Geek

7. October 3, 2008 1:16 pm
   Vostromo

   If you close the shrunken dialog with CTRL+CLOSE, it will stay that way next time.

8. November 24, 2008 6:04 am
   Shkumbin

   Thanx CHRIS, that works on folders too.

9. November 25, 2008 3:17 am
   _AbE_

   It works on windows 2000 too

10. January 20, 2009 5:16 am
    Nipuna

    Nice Trick! it’s very useful… don’t anyone know how to reduce volume without even clicking the volume button..

11. April 18, 2009 12:47 pm
    Lobelia

    the geek shall inherit the earth

12. May 22, 2009 5:29 pm
    Neil

    Nipuna wrote:

    > do[es]n’t anyone know how to reduce volume without even clicking the volume button..

    I just got a keyboard with a volume-control knob on it. It controls the Master Volume slider in the Volume Control window. Yes, you can adjust the volume without having to mess with any windows. The Volume Control window doesn’t have to be in Front.

    This is a cheap keyboard that came with a Dell-Outlet computer. It’s a safe bet there are other keyboards with a volume control, also. For an online retailer, I like newegg.com (just one of a million satisfied customers).