How to Quickly Change System Volume Level using Mouse Wheel in Windows?
Volumouse is a useful utility by Nirsoft that allows to change the volume in Windows by simply scrolling the mouse-wheel rather than to click on the system-tray icon of the volume and changing it from there. However it is a bit of over simplification as the software provides a lot of flexibility by allowing to define rules that govern under which conditions scroll-wheel will be used. If the conditions of a rule that you have defined are not met then scroll-wheel will be used as normal in Windows and not interfere with other applications in Windows. If configured properly it is much easier and quicker to use than to control volume through the volume control applet in Windows. This rule based system allows a high level of customization tailored to an individual’s needs.
You can define a number of rules to customize the volume control feature through the mouse wheel.
For each of the rules you need to specify the following settings:
1. Under which condition to activate the mouse wheel feature
- Left Mouse button is down
- Right Mouse button is down (recommended)
- Mouse cursor is over the task-bar (recommended)
- Mouse cursor is over the title-bar of a window
- Windows Media Player is focused
- Gom Player is focused
- and many more …
2. Which system volume component to control
- Master volume
- Wave Volume
- Mic volume
- Line-in volume
- and many more
3. Which channels to control
- Left channel
- Right channel
- Mute /Unmute
4. Number of Steps to perform for each scroll movement of the mouse wheel
(greater the number of steps, more rapidly volume will change (increase/decrease))
- 500
- 1,000
- 1,500
- and up to 8,000
To have a visual clue of the change in volume level program displays a trackbar when a rule is activated. Preferences related to customize the display of the trackbar (horizontal or vertical , size, position etc. ) can also be adjusted on a per rule basis from the preferences.
Volumouse even works in full-screen applications so using Volumouse to change your system volume in games may come handy when you are in the middle of a play session and don’t want to quite/minimize the game for just to alter the sound volume. I also like the fact that some rules can be defined to be activated in only specific multimedia application where they make more sense such as Windows Media Player, ITunes, Gom Player and BS Player.
This is a highly recommended system utility and I use it on my own system as well. Personally, I have set it up so that a rule is activated with the mouse wheel only when mouse cursor is over the taskbar, but of course there are sufficient rule activation options present to satisfy any individual’s preferences.
You can get Volumouse from Nirsoft website here.
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Tags: mixer, mouse, scroll, Software, sound, uitility, volume, wheel, WindowsRelated posts
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Useful find. Nice to have if you are music lover, even I’m too.