You would think that I would learn but it seems that I am doomed to create the same mistakes again and again. The particular mistake that I am talking about now is the tendency I have to change Windows settings without thinking through all the consequences.

Yesterday I was trying to set up Office Communicator to use my USB headset and microphone. I could only get the sound to come out of the computer speakers. I could see that the sound was set to the default device which were the computer speakers. Since I had been playing my Zune through them that made sense. I tried changing the settings to the headset but it wouldn't reset the default nor allow me to choose the headset. I thought I would just disable the internal speakers and then it would work. When I disabled the speakers there was no sound at all from the computer. I was in a little panic as I am supposed to be recording some stuff this weekend and not being able to play it back and hear what I did would be a big problem.

I tried going into the device manager to re-enable the device. That didn't work. Although I could see other disabled devices the disabled sound device had disappeared. I tried re-installing the drivers but that didn't work either.

I finally reverted to the Vista System Restore points. I went back to the last daily restore point before I had disabled the sound device. After about a half an hour of intensive disk activity the machine rebooted and I heard sound again.

I have some minor complaints about Vista but things like the System Restore that protect me from my own stupidity are proof to me that Microsoft is listening to their customers and the pains they have.