My microphone somehow picks up my PC sounds, I don't have speakers

[HeyCrest]

Hello, I use a headphone that has a mic. It has separate cables for audio jack and microphone jack, which is very common. I do not have any speakers. I listen to my computer sound only through the headphones. The weird issue is, somehow my mic picks up all the sound that comes from my PC as an input. The best example of this is, when I was on a Discord call with my friends, they could hear everything I was watching on YouTube which is extremely weird. And there is no way that my headphones are loud enough for my mic to pick up the sound. I cannot figure out why this is happening. I have invested a lot into this PC and just purchased the new headphones, and I really need to fix this. Please help me!

[Bombastinator]

Audio is analog and consequently has a whole different behavior than digital.  Iirc there’s a program called “potato” or something that attempts to eliminate some of this somehow.  Not sure how it works.

[AAJoe]

Usually this is because you've incorrectly selected stereo mix instead of your mic  - or something to that effect.

It can also happen if there's a shared ground and you mute your mic (analog only). Those are the two most likely.

[HeyCrest]

1 minute ago, AAJoe said:

Usually this is because you've incorrectly selected stereo mix instead of your mic  - or something to that effect.

It can also happen if there's a shared ground and you mute your mic (analog only). Those are the two most likely.

Thanks a lot, can you tell me how can I fix the stereo mix thing? Or how to fix the shared ground thing? I'm not very good with computers. I just simply want a working mic and headphone  The mic works, other people can hear me but it also picks up computer sound...

[AAJoe]

Go to sound settings and make sure that the mic (only the mic, if its 3.5mm it probably says realtek) is set as default device and default communication device. Then in the program you are using (Discord etc) make sure that it is also set either to the mic or default device. 

If its a shared ground issue there's nothing  you can do, but it would probably only happen when you muted the mic. I don't think it is the case here.

[HeyCrest]

7 minutes ago, AAJoe said:

Go to sound settings and make sure that the mic (only the mic, if its 3.5mm it probably says realtek) is set as default device and default communication device. Then in the program you are using (Discord etc) make sure that it is also set either to the mic or default device. 

If its a shared ground issue there's nothing  you can do, but it would probably only happen when you muted the mic. I don't think it is the case here.

It calls my mic "Mic at front panel (Pink)" and yes it is set as default device. How do I set it as default communication device? I am using Windows 7.

[AAJoe]

Find a thing called sound control panel in your windows settings (google it if you have to). Right click on the thing that says "microphone (realtek)" or something to that nature (not digital input). Then simply select the default communication and default device options (you'll have to click on it twice, once for each of these).