Micro Cannot be muted and useable

I have a fresh install of Vista Business 64 bit. I installed the latest drivers for my soundblaster X-fi extreme gamer fatility pro. By default my microphone plays through my speakers. If I mute the microphone in my playback devices, it disables the whole microphone until I restart. I had this exact same problem when I tried Vista Ultimate 32 bit. Why is this happening. How can I fix it.

Thanks

are you able to mute it thorough the mixer??
when you left click the speaker icon (windows vista speaker icon)
click on mixer...
you should see something related to your Mic....
click on bottom icon of the mic which is a speaker icon

little workaround....

after this can you prt scr the recording devices and the one in question???

Gah... I found a fix. I can mute the mic in the playback.. which kills it. But if I disable and reenable it in Recording Devices, it turns it back on and keeps it muted..... Sigh Vista...

And no, the mixer has nothing for the mic. I have to go into the playback and recording devices.

weird because this says"

Creative Worldwide Support

To prevent you from hear your own voice while talking over a microphone or to reduce noise, you can mute the microphone playback.
Note: Muting microphone playback will not mute the microphone. This will only prevent the soundcard from sending the signals picked up by the microphone to the speakers.

1. Close all back applications, especially, Sound Recorder or other multimedia applications.
2. Select Control Panel, and then Hardware and Sound.
3. Click Playback. Highlight the speakers that you are using.
4. Click Properties,
   • Click to enlarge
5. Mute the device that you do not want to hear feedback.
   • 

Click to expand...

I did that, but it killed the mic. But like I said, I just had to disable/reenable it to get it working again.

Thanks though!