Every calling app has a mute button, and every one of them puts it somewhere else. Hotkey Microphone Muter gives you one shortcut that works in all of them, and in the ones with no mute button at all. ONE KEYPRESS, ANYWHERE The shortcut is registered with Windows, so it works while something else has focus. You do not have to find the window, and you do not have to find the button. Ctrl+Alt+M to begin with, and any combination you like after that. If Windows will not hand over the combination you picked — which it will not, if another program already holds it — the app tells you so plainly instead of failing in silence. YOU CAN SEE WHICH WAY IT WENT A plate appears in the corner of the screen, on every monitor, saying muted or live. It fades on its own after a couple of seconds and it cannot be clicked, so it never gets in the way of what you were doing — and it stays out of the middle, which is where the face you are talking to is. That matters more than it sounds. The moment you press the key is the moment you are looking at somebody's face, not at the notification area, and a shortcut you cannot confirm is a shortcut you stop trusting. There is a sound too, if you would rather not look at all. IT WATCHES THE MICROPHONE, NOT ITSELF Your meeting software mutes. Your headset has a button on the cable. Some laptops have a key for it. The original app knew about none of these and would happily tell you that you were live while your microphone was off. This one watches the device itself, so the tray icon, the plate and the window agree with reality however the change was made. OR HOLD TO TALK Turn it around. The microphone stays muted and opens only while you hold your key, the way it works in a game. Let go and you are off again, which is the safer way round for anyone who spends the day in meetings. THE REST OF IT Pick which microphone, when the PC has more than one — a webcam, a headset and the one built into the laptop is an ordinary number. Set its input volume on the same screen, without going to the Windows sound page. Watch the level move to confirm the microphone is genuinely hearing you, which is the question a mute indicator always raises and never answers. It can start with Windows, and it can start muted, so a session begins silent until you mean to speak. WHERE IT LIVES In the notification area. Close the window and the shortcut keeps working; click the icon and it is back, and the icon itself shows whether you are muted. Everything happens on this PC. There is no account, nothing is uploaded, and it works with no connection at all.

Mutes and unmutes your microphone with one keyboard shortcut Works while any other program has focus, so it never needs bringing up Choose your own shortcut, and it says so when Windows will not give it up A plate in the corner of every monitor tells you which way it went Hold to talk: stays muted, and opens only while you hold the key Notices mutes made by anything else, so the indicator is never wrong Pick which microphone when the PC has more than one Sets the input volume without opening the Windows sound page Optional sound, for muting mid-sentence without looking away Can start muted, so every session begins silent Lives in the notification area and keeps listening with the window closed Follows the Windows light and dark themes Works offline. No account, and nothing is uploaded

Rebuilt from the ground up. - New: choose your own shortcut. The old one was fixed at Ctrl+Alt+M, with no way to change it and nothing said when another program had already taken it. - New: the mute state is read from the microphone itself, so mutes made by your meeting software, a headset button or a laptop key are shown too. - New: a live input level, so you can see the microphone is actually hearing you. - New: start muted, for sessions that should begin silent. - New: hold to talk, on a key of its own. The microphone rests muted and opens only while you hold it. - The on-screen plate now appears on every monitor, sits in the corner rather than over the middle of the screen, and cannot be clicked through by accident. - The notification area icon and its menu follow the mute state wherever the change came from. - Redesigned interface that follows the Windows light and dark themes.