How do I bypass KMixer in Windows XP

Does unmapping the device the way Steve suggests prevent windows from making sounds (beeps, alarms, notifications, etc)?

Thanks for the responses, but I'm not trying to disable the windows sounds, I'm trying to prevent them from being disabled.

I guess I don't really understand how this can work. If you select "Do not use audio features" for a sound controller in the device manager, how can it be available to programs in windows?

I've tried this with my old desktop with an audigy 2zs pci card and an m-audio audiophile usb external device, and basically it just disables the device in windows, making it no longer available to foobar or any other app. If I select "Do not map to this device" but leave the "use audio features" on, then it works, and it does seem to bypass the kmixer, using either the creative mixer, or the maudio mixer instead.

Am I missing something?

BTW - while I was experimenting with this, I also compared foobar 0.9.x to 0.8.3 (per Steve's suggestion) and boy it is a pretty big difference. It is unfortunate that a lot of the new interface plugins don't work on 0.8.3, but I'll happily sacrifice those for better sound.

Ok, well I finally got this to work and, more importantly, I think I understand how it works. For some reason, I had to reboot several times before foobar worked.

Since the solution disables the sound controller in windows, making all features (including recording and windows sounds) unavailable except for playback, this is overkill for me. I am sticking with ASIO. I can detect no audible difference between using ASIO and by disabling the sound controller in windows when using foobar, and I can still use the other features of my soundcard.