Ana,
I haven't tried this utility but it should do what you want.
http://www.nirsoft.net/articles/mute_volume_hotkey.html
Fortunately, my keyboard has some additional keys above the function 
keys, one of them being a mute/unmute toggle.  If you like, I can find 
out the brand if you'd like to consider purchasing it.
finally, you could also download a demo copy of Window-eyes or a fully 
working version if you have Office 2010/2013 installed. Window-eyes has 
an unmute hotkey and I believe it has a setting which automatically 
unmutes the master volume when the program starts.
I really need to remind myself to write to Freedom Scientific to suggest 
that they implement similar features in JAWS.


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         David Goldfield,
        Founder and Peer Coordinator

    Philadelphia Computer Users' Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired

On 5/9/2014 7:23 PM, Ana G wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Is there a quick way to unmute the speakers in Windows? I'm running 
> Windows 8.1, so that's what I'm interested in, but I'm willing to try 
> things that work in other versions.
>
> I had a very cranky moment with a campus IT tech this week. I normally 
> hook my laptop to the classroom projector using a serial cable that's 
> already waiting for me. With this setup, I can type examples and so on 
> as I lecture. The short version of the story is that the cable was not 
> there when I got to class, so I called a tech to bring it back. He 
> did, but he couldn't get my laptop to communicate with the projector, 
> so he started messing with stuff. Since all of this took a very long 
> time, I dragged class announcements out as long as I could. Then I 
> started lecturing, so I was only half listening to what the tech was 
> doing. About thirty minutes in, I heard that Jaws was no longer 
> speaking, but I didn't panic because he was doing something to the 
> computer that's already in the room. When he gave up, we had a 
> mini-tiff. He thought I should just use the computer in the room, 
> which is what it was there for. I suppose I should be flattered that 
> he didn't know I was blind until I mentioned it. My students certainly 
> found his reaction amusing. Anyway, he fiddled with things a few more 
> minutes, gave up again, and left.
>
> When I got home, I turned on my laptop and got silence. Initially, I 
> thought it was having some sort of Windows meltdown, but when I got 
> sighted help, I discovered the tech had muted the speakers, so the 
> person helping me had to go into the charms menu, select Settings, 
> select Volume, and click Unmute. Afterward, I tried going through the 
> steps myself, but since there's no first-letter navigation in the 
> charms menu or in the part of the control panel where volume is, the 
> process isn't something I can really memorize and tuck into my brain 
> somewhere.
>
> Is there a mute/unmute shortcut or toggle, or is there a utility or 
> program I can use for this?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ciao
>
>
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    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
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