The Download	This Issues Review	The Web Site
	ZVolume by Roman Medvedev
When was the last time you opened up your sound card control panel in windows xp? Have you noticed how HUGE the slide controls are? It has always struck me strange as to why Microsoft would allow this panel to be so big when all you're doing is adjusting the settings on your sound card. I needed a sound card control panel that was small and convenient with all of the functions available. Well, this bit of freeware was brought to my attention and I can't be happier now. ZVolume give you all of the controls needed to make your adjustments in a super small package that's configurable including skins! Here's the skinny: Review Version Number......... Version 4.0 - Dated Dec 10, 2006 Platform and Requirements......... Since I am not running a computer with Windows 98 at the moment, I can't test this freeware under that operating system. The site and accompanying documentation do not specify compatible OS's. That being said, it runs well in Windows XP and I will assume for now that it will run in any Windows 32 bit operating system.  The Website... The web site is a basic text site with different pages for different aspects of this program such as download, awards, skins, plugins etc. Most impressive is the 'awards' page which has many, many awards for the program with 4 and 5 star ratings, 4 cows, 5 bulls, thumbs up.... well, you get the idea!   :)   Help Files.... The help files for ZVolume are fairly decent and explain all of the features of the program in as little text as possible. There are a few screenshots of the controls and how they are used as well as an interactive 'general settings' page where clicking on the panel buttons gives you the specific page of info for that area. There is also a 'suggest a feature' page where you can request the author to make hotkey support for your specific program. Download, Installation and Uninstall... The download page gives you a choice of downloading the program in .zip or self install .exe format. The .exe format is approx. 790k with the .zip file a bit smaller. After installation, the program takes up almost 2 megs of hard drive space in it's directory. The installation involves the usual routine of directory choice, EULA, settings review etc. but a nice added feature for ZVolume is the six step tour that you get before using the program. Here's a couple of screenshots of this little tutorial: The uninstall doesn't delete the directory and you'll be responsible for doing that little bit of dirty work. Interface and Features..... ZVolume utilizes the use of skins to change the look of it's interface, which is basically a stack of slide controllers which takes up a LOT less space than the default Windows controls. At this review, there were approx. 12 skins of different sizes and colors available of which 4 were utilized by ZVolume when the program was installed. The design of the slides is actually only a portion of the total control that you have over this program. ZVolume contains many options from which you can choose. Here's a few pics of the settings:  The 'settings' window lets you change some of the more basic features of the program such as 'load at startup' and where your skins directory will be located.    The Customize window contains three tabs where more settings are made. This first tab give you more settings changes, mainly for the controls themselves. The 'Audio' tab allows you to adjust the controls for multiple sound cards. Pictured in the drop down box are the two sound cards that I have installed on my machine. The skins tab gives you the listing of the installed skins and allows you to pick which one you want.  A great feature of ZVolume is it's hotkey support. The hotkeys let you control just about every aspect of many supported program such as Winamp, MS Internet Explorer, and CoolPlayer. These hotkeys can be utilized from any program running, just hit your combination, and whatever program it relates to performs it's function. Each of these supported programs get that way from plugins. If you're running one of these programs, just download the plugin, install it and apply hotkeys through ZVolume! It's that simple. The web site also allows you to request features and suggest programs for plugin support. Below is a pic of the 'Plugins' window. This area gives you a window with the highlighted plugins information and each of it's hotkey commands.   Now here are some shots of the program at work. The skins vary from tiny to larger controls complete with their functions mentioned. When you mouse over a control, the tool tip will give you the specific percentage of level and exactly what your controlling. The mute and level buttons compliment the control slide to allow you access to these functions too.  There is also an option to stop them from being shown:                                     As a comparison, I was going to place a few pics of the MS level controls but as you may already know, they're just way to big to fit in this review! :) Problems.... Well, the program itself has been running flawlessly since installation, but I do have ONE small beef. Skin installation is not automatic and involves downloading a .zip file, opening it up, then getting into your file manager, you have to make a directory for that skin (don't forget to put THAT directory in the directory that you set in the 'General Settings' window for skins!), place the files in it, and close up your file manager. Geeze, I'd sure like a self install .exe file!! :)  Conclusion....  ZVolume has been very helpful to me while I listen to tunes and broadcast my Femmetal weekend online radio broadcast, giving me those shortcut keys to make adjustments as needed but the best part is the fact that these slide controls give me back tons of real estate on my desktop! That was my main purpose in finding this freebie and the shortcut key controls only add to the find! Need your controls to be accessible and yet not huge like a Microsoft tank, get ZVolume! Cheers! Buzzy :)