Dell and SigmaTel: Hear what you say

I've faced this problem with Dell Inspiron. This may applies to other cases as well.

I wanted to hear when I record (or even when I do not record - just hear into my speakers when I use my microphone). But I cannot see Microphone on Volume Control, so I can record, but cannot hear what I am recording at same time. I remember I could do that on some other machine in Windows 95.

This is the place where I got the solution:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&message.id=24735&c=us&l=en&cs=&s=gen

Dell ships the Inspirons with the ability to monitor the input at the mic jack turned off. The Key DisableMicFromPlayback has a default value of 01. It should be 00 to enable microphone while playback. The above post details the steps for making necessary changes. It involves Registry changes, and restart.

ajaysajay