System Settings: Dell QuickSet Help for Microsoft Windows Vista

Back to Contents Page

# System Settings

Dell™ QuickSet Help for Microsoft® Windows Vista™

Volume Meter

System Information

Dell™ XPS™ Gaming Interface

Power Error Notification

Media Button Configuration

## Volume Meter

The Volume Meter displays the current volume level, including the mute option, for the speakers on your computer.

Either click the icon or press the volume control buttons on your computer to enable or disable whether the Volume Meter is displayed on your screen.

1 | volume icon | 2 | Volume Meter | 3 | mute icon

| NOTE: By default, the Volume Meter is displayed in the lower-right corner of your screen. You can click and drag the meter to a new location, and the meter subsequently always is displayed at the new location.

When the meter is enabled, adjust the volume using the volume control buttons or by pressing the following key combinations:

- Press <Fn><Page Up> to increase volume.
  (Press <Fn><Ins> on certain Japanese keyboards.)
- Press <Fn><Page Down> to decrease volume.
  (Press <Fn><Del> on certain Japanese keyboards.)
- Press <Fn><End> to mute volume.

## System Information

To view a summary of your computer's configuration specifications, you can launch the Microsoft® Windows® System Information tool:

1. Double-click the icon in the taskbar.
2. In the QuickSet launch panel, click System Information.

## Dell™ XPS™ Gaming Interface

You can access the Dell XPS Gaming Interface by double-clicking the icon in the system tray and selecting Gaming from the QuickSet launch panel. The following three tabs are available:

- LED Control
- LED Effects
- Gaming Options

### LED Control

The LED Control tab allows you to select from a variety of colors and color intensities to color-customize your computer's LEDs. The LEDs on your computer are grouped into zones. A zone is a set of LEDs that are controlled as if they were a single LED. When you set the color of a zone, you are setting the color of every LED that is part of that zone. Different computer models can have varying numbers and locations of zones, and the number of individual LEDs in those zones can vary from one to four or more.

From the LED Control tab you can:

- Specify the color for each zone — You can use the vertical sliders to choose the color for each zone.

When the computer boots, the colors that appear in the zones are those set in the BIOS as the power-on default colors. When you log in, the LEDs change to your previously saved color scheme. To change the power-on default colors, choose the desired colors on your screen and check the appropriate box in the lower-left area of the LED Control tab. When you restart the computer, the new default colors appear.

- Specify the intensity level (brightness) of the zones — You can use the horizontal slider to choose the intensity level (brightness) for all the zones.
- Turn off all the LEDs — You can turn off all the LEDs by selecting the Turn all LEDs Off check box.
- Force all the zones to have the same color — You can force all the zones to have the same color by selecting the Link All Zones check box.

### LED Effects

The LED Effects tab allows you to assign an LED effect that runs continuously or only for a short time after you receive a new e-mail. In addition, there are pre-programmed sequences of LED effects available by using XPS LightFX Music Player Plug-ins. You can enable or disable each plug-in by selecting the Plug-in in the LED Effects tab.

From the LED Effects tab, you can:

- Select an effect
- Configure the selected effect
- Select a plug-in to display effects for music players

You can select several LED effects to play when an event occurs. The effects are:

- Strobe light — The LED will blink for the colors that are selected on the LED Control tab for each zone.
- Smooth color rotation — The Breathing lights effect will smoothly cycle through all of the available colors in all zones.
- Zone rotation — The colors that are selected on the LED Control tab for each zone are cycled among all the zones. There can be as many different colors as there are zones. You can even set one (or more) of the zones to OFF, and that will cycle through the other zones as well.
- Breathing lights — The color of the LED cycles between the maximum and minimum intensity, using the colors that are selected on the LED Control tab for each zone.
- No effects — The LED effects are disabled. The LEDs will take on the color and intensity settings appearing on the LED control tab.

#### Configure Effects

You can configure the selected effect as follows:

- Transition speed — Use the slider to modify the length of time period between changes in the color and/or intensity of the LEDs. Selecting a very short time period may impact your computer's performance.
- Play LED effect — Choose whether your selected LED effects should be in effect all of the time or only for a short period after a new email arrives.

### Dell XPS LED Music Player Plug-ins

If your XPS has the gaming interface, it has several visualization plug-ins, called LightFX, that display several pre-programmed effects using the LEDs. Currently, there are LightFX modules for the following Music Player Plug-ins:

| iTunes
| Winamp
| Windows Media Player

Follow these steps to install the Music Player Plug-ins and select them from within each application:

1. Select a Music Player Plug-ins check box on the LED Effects tab.
2. Click Apply. The plug-in that you selected will be installed on your computer.
3. Open the associated application and select the LightFX Module.

For more information, see Selecting LightFX Plug-In Module From Within Each Application.

| NOTE: If a Music Player Plug-ins check box is already checked, it means that the plug-in is installed and should be available from within the associated application. If you uncheck a Music Player Plug-ins check box, the plug-in will be uninstalled and cannot be used from within the associated application. If the entire entry is grayed out, the associated application is not installed on your computer.

### LightFX Module

The LightFX modules which can be set in any of the Music Player plug-ins are as follows:

Module | Visualization
--- | ---

LightFX 1

- The brightness of the LED varies with the intensity of the sound from the applications.

LightFX 2

- The color of the LED cycles through 16 colors.
- The brightness of the LED varies with the intensity of the sound from the applications.

LightFX 3

- The color of the LED changes according to the frequency of the sound.

#### Selecting LightFX Plug-In Module From Within Each Application

You can select the LightFX plug-in module from within each application by doing the following:

1. Click Visualizer in the main menu bar.
2. Select the LightFX module from the drop-down menu.
3. Press <Ctrl><T> to toggle a module on and off.

1. Click Options® Preferences... from the main menu bar.
2. Select Plug-ins® Visualization in the left-hand box of the Winamp Preferences window.
3. Select Dell XPS LightFX in the Visualization Plug-ins box
4. Select the module from the Plug-in module drop-down menu.
5. Click Start.
6. Press <Ctrl><Shift><K> to toggle a module on and off.

1. Click View® Visualizations® Dell XPS LightFX® <module> from the main menu bar.
2. Click View® Visualizations® No visualizations to toggle a module on and off.

### Gaming Options

The Gaming Options tab provides access to settings that can help you enhance the gaming performance of your computer. Click the following buttons on the Gaming Options tab:

- Adjust Display Properties — To open the display settings interface. You can access the display controls of the operating system on the Advanced tab.
- Internal Network Card — To disable your computer's internal network controller. If this item is grayed out, your computer either does not contain a built-in network controller, or doesn't provide the controls QuickSet needs to manage the controller.
- Disable QuickSet Pop-up Windows— To disable or re-enable any pop-up windows that QuickSet may create. If this item is grayed out, then QuickSet is configured so that it will not display any pop-up windows.
- Contact Dell Support — To quickly access Dell's support web site, go to www.support.dell.com.

| NOTE: Some of these options may not be available or supported on your computer. Unavailable options will appear on the Gaming Options tab, but the text on their buttons will be grayed out. These options have no effect if you click their button.

## Power Error Notification

When you plug in the wrong power adapter, battery, or docking device, QuickSet notifies you with an error message. This message displays the following information:

- What is wrong with the adapter or battery
- How this will impact your computer
- What actions you need to take to solve the issue

## Media Button Configuration

| NOTE: This feature may not be available on certain computers.

You can press the media button to automatically launch an application program. Before you can use the button, you must enter QuickSet to specify which application program you want the button to launch.

1. Double-click the icon in the taskbar.
2. In the QuickSet launch panel, click Media Button Configuration.
3. Click the Browse button and navigate to the location of the executable file for the application program you want to launch with the media button.
4. Click the .exe filename, click Apply, and then click OK.

The .exe filename is displayed in the Current Selection field.

Back to Contents Page