My built in microphone on my laptop stopped working when inadvertanly downloaded a program I didn't intend to download. None of the programs I use that would record sound don't work (vidoe chat, my webcam software, sound recorder, etc.). I ran a program via Windows 7 on my pc to troubleshoot the issue and it stated the microphone was disabled and muted, but that it fixed the issue. I could see in one area that my computer was picking up sound as I could see the sound level bar going up and down as I talked. I Then tried my webcam software and the audio recorder on my computer to still note the issue was unresolved. I tried using Windows Live as I've never used it before to set up video and audio preferences and did a test for my speakers and microphone and all appeared to work and noted the sound level bar was also picking up sound, then all of sudden before I could test out my other programs with the mic I got a message from windows live stating there was a problem with the mic and to check to see if it was disabled or if it was being used by another program.
Please help, out of ideas on how to fix.