Here is the link to download USB Disk Ejector: http://quick.mixnmojo.com/usb-disk-ejector

To stay on the safe side, always perform a security scan on internet downloads before opening them.

This is a .zip file, so you will open the application from your .zip software. It is not necessary to open the HTML document unless you simply want to do so. Double click the application.

After opening the application, it should look like this:

For this demonstration, we will focus on removing a compact Flash drive. As you scroll down the list of options, you will see that you can also work with xD, SD/MMC, MS/MS, Pro/HG, and Micro SD drives as well. You can use the utility without creating a hotkey or shortcut by highlighting the drive and pressing enter or double-clicking it.

In this example, the user wants to eject a USB Flash Memory stick from drive (K:). Highlight the drive then press enter and it is done.

To operate this from the keyboard, you can use the utility from a command line. This will allow you to pass parameters and identify which drive to eject.

Begin by passing in the /? Parameter. This will show the help dialog:

• /? Displays this message
• /SILENT Stops balloon messages from appearing when the program is run in GUI mode
• /SHOWEJECT Shows the standard now safe to remove message when a drive is ejected. This message is disabled by default
• /REMOVETHIS Ejects the drive that the program is running from. Eg if the program is run from a usb stick on drive G, then drive G would be ejected
• /REMOVELETTER Ejects the specified drive letter
• /REMOVENAME Ejects the drive with the specified name. Partial name matching is possible if a wildcard (*) is used. Eg /REMOVENAME *SANDISK would eject a drive that had sandisk in its name

These are the command line options. Test them out. The Drive in this example is Drive (K:), so the syntax used in the command line is as follows:

usb_disk_eject /removeletter K

The command line used depends on the name of the disk sometimes, so you may need to include variations of the disk name in the command line or you will receive error messages.

Creating a Shortcut

Right-click on the desktop and then select New > Shortcut. In this location box, enter the full pathway for the USB Disk Eject application file.

Click Next and assign a name to the shortcut and this will create an icon that can be kept on the desktop for easy ejection of a given drive. You can do this with any USB drive.

To create a Hotkey to the Shortcut: Right-click on the icon and open Properties. You can do this with any Shortcut, by the way. It all works the same.

Click Apply and it is done. Here, F12 is used as the hotkey, but you may choose any key or combination of keys. In Windows Vista, you can add the shortcut to the quick launch bar and use the built-in hotkey option.

There is however no hotkey manager available that displays those shortcuts and provides the means to create new keyboard shortcuts. That’s where third party software like WinHotkey can aid the user.

WinHotKey is a lightweight software program for the Windows operating system that provides the means to create new system wide hotkeys in Windows.

It should be noted that these hotkeys will only work if the software is running in the background. Users who only want to launch specific programs with hotkeys are therefor encouraged to create those hotkeys in the program’s properties dialog. This has the advantage that no third party program needs to be running for the hotkey functionality.

WinHotKey does however have its purposes. It makes it more comfortable to manage hotkeys in Windows. Another benefit of the software program is that it can create hotkeys for various purposes, not only for the purpose of launching a software. The hotkey software can be used to

• Launch an application
• Open a Document
• Open a Folder
• Automatically type some text

WinHotkey displays the built in Windows hotkeys by default which can be disabled in the program’s interface.

New hotkeys are created easily in the software. All it takes is to specify a key combination to trigger the action and the action itself.

Advanced parameters can be configured for launching applications including launch parameters and starting the application minimized, maximized or normally.

All hotkeys are displayed in the main interface of the program from where they can be edited or removed from the computer system.

WinHotkey can be downloaded from Softpedia. It is compatible with most versions of the Windows operating system.

Here is a short overview:

• Text actions: to copy texts automatically into your current application e.g. OutlookHtml actions: to do the same as above though in a HTML format; this also allows simply copying to the clipboard rather than to the active application.
• Open actions: automate the opening of files whether on your local drive or on the Internet. the Internet.
• Launch actions: automate the opening of tools and execution of DOS or Windows commands, including support for parameters.
• Ram actions: used to minimize the RAM usage of your applications, very handy if you sometimes run out of RAM with your setup.
• Win actions: multiple multi-screen actions such as fast switch and maximize, snap windows to the sides of your screen, tray applications, hide windows or task bar, etc.
• Capture actions: allows you to capture your whole screen, a window or an area you draw on your screen, to save it as an image in a file or your clipboard, or to send it to TFS or an image editor.

Signo will add an icon to the Windows system tray after startup. A right-click on that icon will display the list of available hotkeys and associated commands. These can be executed by clicking on them or by pressing the hotkey that is associated with the command. The same context menu provides access to the hotkey configuration which can be used to add, edit or delete hotkeys. Some of the interesting hotkeys that can be created include hotkeys to replace text entered by the user automatically into other text or html. It is for example possible to replace the text #s whenever it is written with a signature which could come in handy when writing emails.

Some available actions have been taken from the developer’s other application Minimem. Hotkeys are provided to reduce the memory usage of the running web browser processes or all system processes.
Signo offers much and could be a great hotkey manager for many users. The downside is the rather high computer memory usage of about ten Megabytes in its minimized stage and that it requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 which some users might not like at all. Everyone else can download Signo from the developer’s website.

Residing in your system tray, PS Hot Launch can act as a sort of replacement start menu. You can add applications and files to it as if you were creating a menu structure, and then punch it up by clicking on the icon. Far more useful is the hotkey ability though, which I use mostly for fodler launching. Just add a folder (or anything else), and toward the bottom of the app you can add a hotkey. I use the windows key + alt, and a letter most of the time, this makes sure I don’t conflict with any other hotkeys.

If you use a lot of folders, this applications will be a Godsend! I use quite a lot, since I use Xampp to do web development on my local machine, so i use a lot of directories for websites and such, all of which I can bind to hotkeys. Launching Firefox can also be easier than with Launchy, just press Win+Alt+F for example. That said, Launchy has some benefits of PS Hot Launch, but I use both side by side harmoniously.

#Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder.
#Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually any key, button, or combination can become a hotkey.
#Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing “btw” can automatically produce “by the way”.
#Create custom data entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars. See GUI for details.
#Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.
#Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script.
#Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities.
#Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don’t have AutoHotkey installed.