Emptying out my tray – IV (Winkey)

Member Name: yhwman

Product:	Winkey
Date:	02/08/01 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extremely useful, Free

Disadvantages: None

Who remembers when PC’s used to come with 102 key keyboards? I certainly do, which means I also remember when they started coming with 105 key keyboards. Surely I can’t have been the only person who struggled to find a use for the two windows keys (ctrl+esc did the same trick on the old keyboards), indeed – the only function they seemed to have was another way for windows 95 to crash DOS programs. However, I’m one of these annoying people who has to get the most out of everything they own and will quite happily sit around fiddling with things in order to get that most.

So, with chin set, I set out into the scary world of the Internet determined to find a use for these extra keys. And blow me down if I didn’t find a use for the windows key. I found a cunning little program by the makers of that fairly useless search tool ‘Copernic’ called WinKey. Now, at it’s simplest WinKey merely creates shortcuts to programs or folders but with a bit of brain application it can do more. Here are a few things I do with mine.

Win+w: loads winamp, or gives winamp focus so I can skip/pause etc using the keys z-b. WinKey acts as a remote control for winamp!

Win+c: Loads windows calculator.

Win+q: Points to a shortcut to my dialup networking connection, which is a way of getting around WinKey not being able access the dialup networking folder.

If you’re the sort of person whose happy typing away then WinKey will be a boon to you, allowing you to quickly perform tasks without having to lift off the keyboard and reach for the mouse although it would perhaps be less of a boon for the two fingered typist.

So, how does WinKey work? Well, it comes set up with 10 or so pretty useless default shortcuts, which I just deleted straight away before adding my own. First up you have to chose the action you want to perform, this can range from running a file, opening a folder or choosing from
a list of special actions such as maximise window (alt+space then x does the same thing) or go to network neighbourhood. You then choose the shortcut key which can range from simple like win+k to arcane win+shift+ctrl+end. Copernic reckons there are about 200 key combinations. You then get the usual choice of run in, run as and parameters like you would with a normal shortcut.

All these functions are controlled from the WinKey manager which by default is accessed from the WinKey tray icon. However, you can turn the icon off and access from the start menu instead – which is a neat little feature as once you have everything setup you are not going to need immediate access to it are you?

WinKey is a very light weight application, it’s using 290k of memory and has managed to use an unmeasurably small amount of CPU time since my computer was booted 50mins ago.

If this sounds like it might be useful, you can grab hold of it from http://www.copernic.com/winkey/.

Summary: