can "mute" be toggled?

[Jo-Anne]

I've taken to watching videos on my WinXP laptop. I mute the ads by
left-clicking on the volume button in the system tray, then checking or
unchecking the "mute" box. Is there a way to put "mute" in the taskbar or
system tray in a way that I can simply toggle it on and off? I Googled this
issue but couldn't find anything specific to XP. If there's a reliable 3rd
party application, that would be OK too.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[mm]

I've taken to watching videos on my WinXP laptop. I mute the ads by
left-clicking on the volume button in the system tray, then checking or
unchecking the "mute" box. Is there a way to put "mute" in the taskbar or
system tray in a way that I can simply toggle it on and off? I Googled this
issue but couldn't find anything specific to XP. If there's a reliable 3rd
party application, that would be OK too.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Somehow I got a "multi-media keyboard" and the only part of it I use
is the mute button and the up and down volume buttonss. It's better
than the taskbar imo.

I usually buy keyboards very cheaply at hamfests, but they're not that
expensive new, and hamfests charge 5 or 6 dollars admission, and not
all have fancy keyboards. Still it's worth going to one to see if you
like them. (90 or 95%+ of the people there are men. FWIW 98%+ are
white, even where I live). Almost all are on Sunday mornings, about
8. Get there early.

Not every keyboard with extra buttons has the same things. Some have
only 3 or 4 buttons.

Some, including this one by Microsoft, have 19.

Some might have more even but I don't go shopping.

This also has a Standby button, that I use a lot now, My Cnmputer,
Calculator (that I never think to use. OTOH, it might not be a good
idea to get entrenched in using some of them, since then it will
harder to find a replacement keyboard some day, although I hear you
can wash them in the dishwasher, no heat, no soap.)

In the Web section it has Back and Forward (I just use alt-left arrow
and alt-right arrow.), Stop (I use escape, but it doesn't always
stop), Refresh, (cntl-R) Search (which just started a new window in
Firefox, cntl-N), Favorites, Home (I click on the home icon).

Also Email, Play, Stop, Prev Track, Next Track, and Media. None of
which I ever use, but I don't play CDs or anything but the radio.) I
forget what the last one does, so I pressed it and it brought up
windows media player, but didn't play anything of course.

Sometimes a book slides over the Back key and holds it down and all
kinds of funny things happen.

This one from the hamfest came with ho software, but when I had win98,
some keyboard came with software, so I found that and used it again
and it displays a volume box on the screen when I press mute, up, or
down. IOW, the little vertical rectangle you've been seeing didnt'
show up when I press volume keys on the heyboard, although it still
does when I click on the speaker icon in the systray.

 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

I've taken to watching videos on my WinXP laptop. I mute the ads by
left-clicking on the volume button in the system tray, then checking
or unchecking the "mute" box. Is there a way to put "mute" in the
taskbar or system tray in a way that I can simply toggle it on and
off? I Googled this issue but couldn't find anything specific to XP.
If there's a reliable 3rd party application, that would be OK too.

A Google search for "mute windows sound by shortcut" produced several
promising results - the top 3 each used a different approach, two used
different third-party utilities (free), the other used a .vbs.

 

[Jo-Anne]

I use a keyboard that will do that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! It never even occurred to me that my
keyboard might have those controls. I use a Dell Precision laptop; and
thanks to your suggestion, I looked carefully at the keyboard and found
volume up, volume down, and mute--all next to the power button.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Somehow I got a "multi-media keyboard" and the only part of it I use
is the mute button and the up and down volume buttonss. It's better
than the taskbar imo.

I usually buy keyboards very cheaply at hamfests, but they're not that
expensive new, and hamfests charge 5 or 6 dollars admission, and not
all have fancy keyboards. Still it's worth going to one to see if you
like them. (90 or 95%+ of the people there are men. FWIW 98%+ are
white, even where I live). Almost all are on Sunday mornings, about
8. Get there early.

Not every keyboard with extra buttons has the same things. Some have
only 3 or 4 buttons.

Some, including this one by Microsoft, have 19.

Some might have more even but I don't go shopping.

This also has a Standby button, that I use a lot now, My Cnmputer,
Calculator (that I never think to use. OTOH, it might not be a good
idea to get entrenched in using some of them, since then it will
harder to find a replacement keyboard some day, although I hear you
can wash them in the dishwasher, no heat, no soap.)

In the Web section it has Back and Forward (I just use alt-left arrow
and alt-right arrow.), Stop (I use escape, but it doesn't always
stop), Refresh, (cntl-R) Search (which just started a new window in
Firefox, cntl-N), Favorites, Home (I click on the home icon).

Also Email, Play, Stop, Prev Track, Next Track, and Media. None of
which I ever use, but I don't play CDs or anything but the radio.) I
forget what the last one does, so I pressed it and it brought up
windows media player, but didn't play anything of course.

Sometimes a book slides over the Back key and holds it down and all
kinds of funny things happen.

This one from the hamfest came with ho software, but when I had win98,
some keyboard came with software, so I found that and used it again
and it displays a volume box on the screen when I press mute, up, or
down. IOW, the little vertical rectangle you've been seeing didnt'
show up when I press volume keys on the heyboard, although it still
does when I click on the speaker icon in the systray.

Thank you, mm! With your help, I discovered that I DO have a Mute button on
my Dell Precision keyboard. It never occurred to me that there might be one
on the keyboard. It'll get lots of use now.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

A Google search for "mute windows sound by shortcut" produced several
promising results - the top 3 each used a different approach, two used
different third-party utilities (free), the other used a .vbs.

Thank you, Zaphod! I'm going to add your post to my hard drive for future
reference. In the meantime, Alias and mm pointed out that I could have a
Mute button on my keyboard--and indeed I do. It just never occurred to me to
look there.

Jo-Anne

 

[Tim Meddick]

Depending on your make and model of keyboard, other functions you may find
can include;

Media Player Buttons;
"Previous Track" / "Skip Backwards"
"Stop"
"Play" / "Pause"
"Next Track" / "Skip Forwards"

Internet Functions;
"Back" (Previous Page)
"Forward" (Next Page)
"HomePage" (Open Default Browser)
"Email" (Open Default Email Client)

Close Windows Options;
"Shutdown" (button)
"Sleep" / "Suspend" (button)

If you only have a single "Sleep" or "Shutdown" button - you can change
it's function to Shutdown / Suspend / Hibernate or "Ask me...", from the
"Advanced" (tab) of the Power Options control panel extension.

If you download and install the [free] TweakUI.exe utility for XP from
Microsoft, there's an included "Command Buttons" section that allows you to
configure many of those special keyboard buttons and customise what they
do. Useful if you never use some of their current functions - you can
change what they do, to something you might actually use!

Download the small TweakUI installation file from the link below :
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thank you, Tim! I do have TweakUI and will now see what else I can do with
it. It's also definitely time that I look seriously at what my keyboard
offers.

Jo-Anne

Depending on your make and model of keyboard, other functions you may find
can include;

Media Player Buttons;
"Previous Track" / "Skip Backwards"
"Stop"
"Play" / "Pause"
"Next Track" / "Skip Forwards"

Internet Functions;
"Back" (Previous Page)
"Forward" (Next Page)
"HomePage" (Open Default Browser)
"Email" (Open Default Email Client)

Close Windows Options;
"Shutdown" (button)
"Sleep" / "Suspend" (button)

If you only have a single "Sleep" or "Shutdown" button - you can change
it's function to Shutdown / Suspend / Hibernate or "Ask me...", from the
"Advanced" (tab) of the Power Options control panel extension.

If you download and install the [free] TweakUI.exe utility for XP from
Microsoft, there's an included "Command Buttons" section that allows you
to configure many of those special keyboard buttons and customise what
they do. Useful if you never use some of their current functions - you
can change what they do, to something you might actually use!

Download the small TweakUI installation file from the link below :
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

Thank you, Zaphod! I'm going to add your post to my hard drive for future
reference. In the meantime, Alias and mm pointed out that I could have a
Mute button on my keyboard--and indeed I do. It just never occurred to me
to look there.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

I see you have the answer to the mute, but anyway look up Wizmo.exe. It is
a free, tiny program that you can set to do many things by clicking on an
icon. Examples: reboot, shutdown, standby, hibernate, logoff, set to a
specific sound volume, mute. It even has a shutdown "dammit" which forces
an immediate shutdown when windows may sit waiting for a program to
release its grip on windows. I use several of the commands all the time,
including the mute function (My ancient keyboard doesn't have such a key).

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Sing along if you know the words!

Thank you, Gerald! I'll definitely check out that program.

Jo-Anne

 

[mm]

Thank you, mm! With your help, I discovered that I DO have a Mute button on
my Dell Precision keyboard. It never occurred to me that there might be one
on the keyboard. It'll get lots of use now.

Jo-Anne

Until I read the other posts, I didn't nnotice that you have a laptop.
You can't really buy another keyboard for your laptop and if you do it
will look exactly the same , but I'm glad yours has mute and
volume already!

 

[Jo-Anne]

I use a USB keyboard with my laptop. I can change it any old time I want.

I tried that for a while; and although I love my non-laptop keyboard, the
stuff I regularly kept attached to the laptop seemed to cause it to overheat
and freeze the screen, requiring a reboot. Of course, it wasn't just the
keyboard. I also had my old monitor attached and a USB mouse. I can't say
for sure it was the extra devices that caused the screen to freeze; but when
I removed all but the mouse, everything went back to normal.

Also, when I tried using a powered USB hub for some of my USB devices, I
found that it didn't work well for the keyboard and mouse. Sometimes they'd
work, sometimes not.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Until I read the other posts, I didn't nnotice that you have a laptop.
You can't really buy another keyboard for your laptop and if you do it
will look exactly the same , but I'm glad yours has mute and
volume already!

Thank you! (I did try a USB keyboard for a while--but, as I mentioned to
Alias--the USB and other devices I attached to the laptop seemed to cause
some overheating.)

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Was the monitor a CRT type?

No, it's an LCD (I still have it, although I haven't used either it or my
Dell Dimension desktop computer that it came with in a while).

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

If your laptop is overheating, you might consider getting one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997730

Thank you again, Alias. I do have a cooling pad, but I didn't find that it
accomplished much when I used it...

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

You could try a USB hub, powered by electricity
from a wall outlet, and plug your devices into
that. Of course, this turns your laptop into
a small, much less portable, desktop, but it
could be a useful solution if you don't carry
your laptop around that much.

Thank you, Anthony! I do have a powered USB hub, but my keyboard and mouse
didn't work well plugged into it; and it didn't seem to stop the
overheating. (I'm assuming that overheating was the issue, since the
computer would freeze and need to be rebooted--and when I stopped using the
external keyboard and monitor, it went back to operating normally.

Jo-Anne

 

[choro]

Thank you again, Alias. I do have a cooling pad, but I didn't find that it
accomplished much when I used it...

Laptops do seem to gather a lot of dust inside them which eventually can
lead to overheating and even the laptop cutting off due to overheating.
It would be advisable to have that accumulated dust blown away with a
can of compressed air.

 

[Jo-Anne]

If it were overheating, disconnecting USB devices would make no difference
and neither would a reboot. You have a different problem but I'm afraid I
don't know what it is other than the USB devices are conflicting. You
could try removing one at a time to see what the real culprit is.

Thank you again, Alias! Everything is working OK right now--and I'm hoping
to get another desktop computer one of these days, at which point the laptop
will go back to being my backup computer. I just have to figure out what to
buy and gear myself up to learning Windows 7.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Laptops do seem to gather a lot of dust inside them which eventually can
lead to overheating and even the laptop cutting off due to overheating. It
would be advisable to have that accumulated dust blown away with a can of
compressed air.

You're absolutely right, choro! I have never cleaned out the laptop, and
I've had it for three years. Time to do it, for sure.

Jo-Anne

 

[mm]

It might be my fault you have these problems. I've been channeling
you and making your computer do strange things to get your attention.
And now that you and I are on the same newsgroup, I find myself
tongue-tied, except about keyboards. Apparently I'm not up to this
challenge and I apolgize for attempting it.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Plus, here's the [vb] code to toggle volume muting :


------------------- copy between lines -------------------

set WShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WShell.SendKeys chr(173)

------------------- copy between lines -------------------


....copy / paste the above two lines of text into Notepad and save, giving
it a name with a [*.vbs] extension (e.g. "TVOL.VBS" ).

If you then either place the file on your desktop or use shortcut to the
[*.vbs] file (you can define your own icon to it with a shortcut), and
double-click on it to toggle volume "mute".

Okay, you have your keyboard button - but in my experience, it never hurts
to have as many ways to do well-used operations as possible...

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

Thank you, Tim! I do have TweakUI and will now see what else I can do
with it. It's also definitely time that I look seriously at what my
keyboard offers.

Jo-Anne

Depending on your make and model of keyboard, other functions you may
find can include;

Media Player Buttons;
"Previous Track" / "Skip Backwards"
"Stop"
"Play" / "Pause"
"Next Track" / "Skip Forwards"

Internet Functions;
"Back" (Previous Page)
"Forward" (Next Page)
"HomePage" (Open Default Browser)
"Email" (Open Default Email Client)

Close Windows Options;
"Shutdown" (button)
"Sleep" / "Suspend" (button)

If you only have a single "Sleep" or "Shutdown" button - you can change
it's function to Shutdown / Suspend / Hibernate or "Ask me...", from
the "Advanced" (tab) of the Power Options control panel extension.

If you download and install the [free] TweakUI.exe utility for XP from
Microsoft, there's an included "Command Buttons" section that allows you
to configure many of those special keyboard buttons and customise what
they do. Useful if you never use some of their current functions - you
can change what they do, to something you might actually use!

Download the small TweakUI installation file from the link below :
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

message
I've taken to watching videos on my WinXP laptop. I mute the ads by
left-clicking on the volume button in the system tray, then checking
or unchecking the "mute" box. Is there a way to put "mute" in the
taskbar or system tray in a way that I can simply toggle it on and
off? I Googled this issue but couldn't find anything specific to XP.
If there's a reliable 3rd party application, that would be OK too.


A Google search for "mute windows sound by shortcut" produced several
promising results - the top 3 each used a different approach, two used
different third-party utilities (free), the other used a .vbs.

--
Zaphod

Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy, ya know? - Gag Halfrunt




Thank you, Zaphod! I'm going to add your post to my hard drive for
future reference. In the meantime, Alias and mm pointed out that I
could have a Mute button on my keyboard--and indeed I do. It just never
occurred to me to look there.

Jo-Anne