How to increase sound?

Hi, I have a new laptop, and sometimes, I have to hold it up to my ear, to hear, esp. if something else is running in the room, like the tv. I have the sound up as far as it will go, and whatever program I am trying to listen to, is up all the way too,...

is there anything else I can do to increase the volume... or do I maybe have a defect in my laptop??

Also, I have aol and I can't see the pictures in the news stories... I can click on them, and they will open into another box, and then, I can see them, is there anything I can tweak... so that they will appear, when the screen opens???

There is a note under them saying to disable my pop up blocker... not sure how to do that, or if I should... I do not like popups.

okay this happened too me one time...
-your going to go to start
-then go to control pannel
-then your going to want to go click on sounds, speech, and audio Devices.
-then click on sounds and audiodevices
-then youll see the sounds and audio devices prpertiees[the thing that pops up]
-and your gna stay in the volume section[which is shown at then top of the box that -popeed up]
-then click the FRIST advanced...
-and make sure that the volume control is all the way up
-and the wave is all the way up
-the sw synth, CD audio, and Mic in volume ALWAYS stay on high!

Thank you, I greatly appreciate your help.
I went thru all the steps, and everything appeared to be set right.

I have noticed that some things... are at the right level to hear... others are not...
so, maybe I just have to live with it???

This is my first laptop, so, I have no idea, if anything is wrong with it or if this is normal.

also, another problem that I have had, is the news pictures on the home page, do not appear, underneath it says to disable pop up blocker...

however, I do not want pop ups ...

is there a way to fix this???