This is a generic description of how to configure the microphone as the recording device in Windows. Windows only allows one audio recording device to be selected at a time.
As the method to setting the recording device varies from sound card to sound card, this may not reflect exactly how your screen will look, but it should be a good approximation of what you must do to make sure the microphone is the default recording device in Windows.
First, from the Windows desktop, you will need to right-click on the speaker ICON in the Windows task bar. It should be located on the far right portion of the task bar.
A menu will pop-up and one of the options should be Adjust Audio Properties or something to that effect. Again, it may not be exact.
A panel similar to the one shown at the right should appear. Select the Audio tab.
In this section you will see controls for Playback, Recording, and Music or MIDI Playback.
Press the Advanced button in the Sound Recording panel, near the center.
After pressing the Advanced button from the sound control panel, the panel to the right will appear.
Note the two sliders available, and you may have other options as well.
Hardware Acceleration
This slider controls the CPU priority when a sound needs to be played. The more to the right the slider is, the higher the priority sounds will get over other functions.
If you are having stutters in the game when sounds are played, then move this to the location shown in the panel.
Sample rate conversion quality
This slider sets the quality of the recording. This can have an adverse effect on CPU performance if it is set to high.
After you are done here, press the OK button and you will be returned to the Sound and Multimedia panel. When you get back there, press the Volume button in the Sound Recording section.
The panel shown at the right will appear. If Microphone is not in the panel, the press the Options menu button.
Select Properties from the popup menu.
In the Properties panel, find Microphone in the list and put a check mark beside it.
This will allow you to control the microphone in the audio properties.
Now that you have the Microphone listed in the Recording Control, you need to put a check-mark in the Select box to make the microphone the default recording device in Windows.
This will allow the microphone to work in the game.
This takes care of the recording section of getting your microphone working. You need to do one more thing before it is fully operational.
From the Sound and Multimedia panel, in the Play section, press the Volume button.
The panel to the right will appear. Make sure the Mute option is checked under the Microphone listing.
Let's head back to the voice setup page.