NirCmd is a small but very useful command-line tool. You can do some actions without using clicking your mouse, open up external apps… just a little command will do the job. For example, you can create a shortcut with the command, “nircmd mutesysvolume 1″, to turn off the sound card (much more faster than moving your mouse to the tray, clicking on the wrong icon in the system tray, closing the the wrong window, then click the volume icon, finally click the mute checkbox). NirCmd has loads of functions, such as logging off your computer, changing settings of the opened windows, changing the volume of different sound sources, etc. Making a shortcut for a command and setting a shortcut key for the shortcut keys, will turn your keyboard to a multimedia keyboard at no cost. Did I mention it? It is a freeware! Try it.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html