Can't hear/Adjust VST in synth view, but able to hear it when I click back to track view.

Hey guys, I'm hoping there's an easy solution to this, and perhaps it's a dumb question. Anyhow, when I insert a soft synth/VST, it works fine; the only problem is that when I click on synth view, as in the little window that shows the synth and it's knobs and whatnot, I am not able to hear it, but when I click away/back to recording/track view, I can hear it fine and the adjustments I've made are audible. I'd like to be able to simply click on synth view/vst view, and adjust the sound accordingly and hear the sound as I adjust. As of now, I've been adjusting the sound, then clicking back on track view to hear how it sounds, and going back in forth, which is a pain, and I'm unable to adjust the knobs and whatnot in real time, if ya know what I mean.
Anyone?
 
Kev

It occurs with any synth, and I'm using sonar 8.0 pe on a vista-equipped 64 system. I'll try to explain it a little more clearly; When I have a soft synth inserted, you can bring up a window to view it and it's controls, just as if I was searching the web and opened up another window in a web browser. The issue is, when I click on the synth window to view it, I cannot hear what adjustments I am making until I click back onto the track view. Only then can I hear the synth. Again, it occurs with whatever softsynth I insert. 

I have closed the windows both ways. It's very odd and there have been a few times when it hasn't happened, meaning I could actual tweak knobs and hear the result, but I have no idea. Thanks. 

@cactus, when I insert a softsynth, I always create a midi track afterwards, then set the output accordingly to whatever synth I have chosen. So I am always "focused" as you would say on the midi track, I believe.

Kev

haven't tried that either yet bristol...every time I get on my DAW in my spare time I'm too focused on this new song I've been working on, so it's kind of like walking into a candy store( or liquor store :P) and I completely forget what I came in for. However, I will absolutely try it this weekend and report back here. Everyone has been super helpful here.