Automating a task in Windows XP

[schi0249]

My Old MS keyboard had a volume control built on the keyboard. This was real handy for when I am playing games and wearing headphones. However, that keyboard died (someone spilled coke all over it). My current keyboard doesn't have that function. Howver, I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to do this with a normal keyboard. I'm on Win XP Sp2. Its a pain, cause I have to minimize a game to adjust the volume. And some games don't seem to like being minimized.

 

[it290]

When I'm using my headphones (which have no inline volume control), I usually just set the windows volume control to a nominal level, and then adjust the master volume of the game I'm playing accordingly. I'm sure you could use some kind of hotkey program in combination with a program like soundset (command line volume control program) in order to change the volume, but if the game is grabbing all inputs, that may not work correctly.