Adjust Audio With Your Mouse

Volumouse is a clever and handy freebie that makes your mouse the maestro of your PC's sound. With it you can use the mouse wheel, alone or in combination with keys, to lower or raise the volume, mute, and unmute. I've configured it to let me control the system's volume by spinning the mouse wheel when my pointer is hovering anywhere over the buttons on the Taskbar. Muting takes just one wheel turn with the pointer on any program's menu bar. As a bonus, the tool can also change a window's transparency: If I want to read, say, a help menu while working in an application, I can alter the help window and see right through it.

Contributing Editor Steve Bass writes the Bass Blog and is the author of PC Annoyances, published by O'Reilly. Contact him at hasslefreepc@pcworld.com.