Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware, Open Source
Hotkeys - Today's Free File
We recently went through a phase of showing a number of different application launchers. I thought we were done with
that, at least for awhile, until DownloadSquad reader Martin submitted this utility through our tip form. Dubbed
simply (and accurately) Hotkeys, this utility is pretty
fantastic.
Like most hotkey configuration utilities, Hotkeys allows the user to setup specific key combinations to launch applications, switch between open instances of a running application, control volume (via an add-on) and even remap your Caps Lock key to be a Windows key. But where Hotkeys shines is in how it is configured; setting up a new hotkey is a matter of displaying the on-screen keyboard, and dragging and dropping a shortcut to the key you would like to use to launch it. This in and of itself is pretty great, but they've taken this visual aspect a step further.
One of the reasons most people don't bother to learn hotkeys is that they simply can't remember them long enough to stick into their long-term memory. Hotkeys helps you out with this by simply showing the on-screen keyboard with icons representing each configured hotkey when the user holds down the Windows key for more than 3 seconds. In practice what this means is that when you know the key combination you need, Hotkeys stays out of your way and is very fast. But when you realize you can't remember the key combination, by the time you've decided you need to look for another way to launch the application, the on-screen keyboard has popped up showing you what you needed to know.
Did I mention that the visuals are very appealing? Hotkeys is a product of qliner software, who have decided to release Hotkeys as an open-source project.



Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Petros Dimitriadis said 8:33AM on 2-24-2006
I use shortcuts as much as i can. i have used this software and it is very easy to use except the fact that if you leave the windows button you lose the keyboard on the screen.
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David G. Hong said 9:23AM on 2-24-2006
Colibri is still my favourite, which I was introduced to by Downloadsquad. I've recommended Colibri to other mates, they love it. I love it.
[Ctrl + Space] fire [Enter]!
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mtbiker said 8:42PM on 5-02-2006
I have tried this on a couple of PCs and found it downright easy to use and foolproof. Unfortunately on both systems it seems to be a bit of a memory hog, taking up approximately 20 - 30MB of memory in the Task Manager, though admittedly it doesn't seem to have caused any system slow-downs.
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