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.

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In this article I am going to show you how to set custom keyboard shortcuts in GNOME and then show how you can get creative with them. The GNOME release I am using is 2.26.1 and the Ubuntu release is 9.04.

Creating shortcuts

Figure 1

Creating shortcuts in GNOME is quite simple. You will notice in the Preferences sub-menu of the System menu there is an entry for Keyboard Shortcuts. Click on that to open up the Keyboard Shortcuts manager (see Figure 1). As you can see there are a number of keyboard shortcuts already created for you. This is not only a good place to create new

Figure 2

shortcuts but to find out what shortcuts are already enabled on the system. You might even find some of the keyboard shortcuts you want to use are disabled by default. You can enable them and give them new shortcuts. For example, the Expo key (which displays all desktops side by side – see Figure 2) is listed with the Mod4+E shortcut. What is the Mod4 key? It’s the Window’s key which is usually referred to as the “Super” key. So I reassigned that shortcut to work properly.

Add a new shortcut

Now it’s time to see just how shortcuts are created. As I mentioned earlier, creating shortcuts really is quite simple.

Figure 3

Once you have the Keyboard Shortcuts window open you will see the Add key at the bottom of the window. If you click on that a new, small window will open (see Figure 3). In this new window you only need to add two pieces of information:

Name: This is the name of the shortcut.

Command: This is the command you want to run when you hit the keyboard shortcut.

Figure 4

After you fill out this information click Apply and you will see the shortcut is listed as disabled (see Figure 4). The reason the shortcut is listed as disabled is because an actual shortcut has yet to be defined. Now we have to define the shortcut. To do this click on the Disabled section associated with your shortcut. In figure 4 I have created a shortcut to open up the Claws Mail email client. Now I want to assign the shortcut combination of the Alt Key + “c” to start the application. To do this I will click on the “Disabled” entry which will change and say “New shortcut…”. When you see this change hit the keyboard combination you want to use and it will then be assigned. You know it worked if the shortcut is now listed in conjunction with new shortcut.

Be creative

Don’t think you just have to be limited to opening up standard applications with this feature. For example: I use the Nano editor a LOT. But to use the Nano editor I have to open up a console window and then enter the nano command to start up the editor. Instead I create a shortcut that will automatically open up the gnome-terminal with the Nano editor running. To do this I will create a shortcut with the following information:

Name: Nano

Command: gnome-terminal -e nano

Assign this the Ctrl-N combination and when you hit that keyboard shortcut you will have the gnome-terminal console opened immediately to the Nano editor.

You can also, for example, open a browser window to a specific site. Say, for instance, you want to have one keyboard shortcut to open Firefox to ghacks.net and one shortcut to open Firefox to Slashdot. You can do this by adding shortcuts with the following information:

For Ghacks

Name: Firefox Ghacks

Command: firefox http://www.ghacks.net

For Slashdot

Name: Firefox Slashdot

Command: firefox http://www.slashdot.org

Final thoughts

Creating keyboard shortcuts can make your desktop life so much easier. Have you used creative shortcuts to make your desktop life easier? If so, share them.

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The interface displays the list of preconfigured keyboard shortcuts upon startup. It is possible to delete those to begin with a blank set of keyboard shortcuts. A shortcut consists of a computer keyboard combination, an execute command and an icon. The combinations that are offered by the software are to combine Alt, Control and Shift with a key on the computer keyboard.

The combinations can be tested and become available after hitting the apply button. Most interesting are probably the options to launch a website, program or location.

The main advantage of the computer keyboard tweaker is its low resource usage. The program asks to register an account but there were not any obvious disadvantageous in skipping that step. Keyboard Tweaker is compatible with all Microsoft operating systems starting with Windows 9x.

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In this article I am going to list some of the handier shortcuts for the GNOME desktop. So get your fingers stretched and ready…

Windows

The following short cuts will focus primarily on open windows.

Alt-tab: This combination cycles through the currently open windows. This is handy when you have a lot of windows open and you constantly are moving from one to another.

Ctrl-alt-d: This combination minimizes all open windows to the far corners of the screen. To get them back just hit the combination again.

Shift-alt-up arrow: (requires Compiz) This combination takes all open windows, shrinks them, and organizes them on the screen so you can see all open applications. You can then use the arrow keys to highlight the window you want. Release the keys and the highlighted window will have focus.

Alt-F9: Minimizes the focused window.

Ctrl-Alt-s: Shade window. To unshade window hit the same combination.

Desktop

The following combinations effect the desktop.

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace: This combination will restart X Windows (this logs you out).

Ctrl-Alt-l: This combination will lock the screen. You will need your user password to unlock the screen.

Alt-F2: This combination opens the “run” dialog. From here you can enter a command to run (similar to the “cmd” Windows command).

Alt-F1: This combination opens the main menu.

Print Screen: This key will take a screenshot of the whole desktop.

Alt-Print Screen: This combination will take a screenshot of a single window.

Ctrl-Alt-left arrow: This combination will move one desktop to the left.

Ctrl-Alt-right arrow: This combination will move one desktop to the right.

Ctrl-Alt-down arrow: Show all desktops on one screen. Because there are more desktops than will fit across your screen (even in this small size), you use the left and right arrow keys to move one way or the other.

There you have it. Some of the handiest GNOME keyboard shortcuts. But don’t think you’re limited to the default. Creating your own keyboard shortcuts is simple. Go to the System menu and click on the Preferences entry. From within this new sub menu click on the Personal menu where you will find the Keyboard Shortcuts entry. Click on that to open up the Keyboard Shortcuts window. From this window you can edit the existing keyboard short cuts, but you can not create new ones.

Final Thoughts

If you have never been a big user of keyboard short cuts you should give it a try. Once you realize how efficient you computing can become you will never look back. I will say that I miss the older style gconf-editor where you could create a multitude of keyboard shortcuts in GNOME. With GNOME 2.24 it seems you are limited to the keyboard shortcuts listed in the keyboard-shortcuts tool.

Tags: GNOME, keyboard, keyboard shortcuts, Linux

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One of the biggest strengths of the application is the wide variety of possible actions that can be defined. It ranges from running applications, entering text, manipulating windows, changing system settings like the volume of the system. Hoekey supports multimedia keyboard keys and can control media playback on the computer system as well.

Probably the most amazing factor of this keyboard shortcuts program is its low resource usage. Once everything has been configured the application runs quietly in the background. It uses 200 Kilobytes of computer memory while running and 600 Kilobytes of virtual memory. That’s nothing compared to most other applications that allow the manipulation of keyboard shortcuts on the Windows operating system.

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The software program Advanced Shortcuts Composer provides a few advantages over both already build in methods of creating shortcuts. The user can either drag and drop a file or folder in the program’s interface or browse the computer and pick the files or folders that way. He then has the option to change the shortcut’s name, the destination and more importantly the program’s priority and a shortcut key combination to launch it directly using only the keyboard in Windows.

The option to set another process priority is not available when creating shortcuts manually in Windows and it could be a real timesaver just for this reason.

The Advanced Shortcuts Composer comes with another application build in so to speak which can patch already existing shortcuts. Patching basically means to select a different program priority for the application.

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What many users don’t know or realize is that Windows Media Center has a whole lot of keyboard shortcuts that can be used to control various aspects of the program. SimpleHelp has compiled a pretty big list of keyboard shortcuts you might need. 42 to be precise.

If you are watching a video or DVD, you can use Ctrl+B and Ctrl+F respectively to go back and forward between various chapters. Ctrl+U switches between various subtitle languages. In the case of TV viewing, hit Ctrl+G to go to the guide and Ctrl+R to record a TV show. There are shortcuts for radio and pictures as well. Just a small note; these shortcuts have been provided for Vista. I’m not running Media Center on my PC but I don’t think the shortcuts for XP would differ all that much.

While you may not need to use all 42 shortcuts, it’s still worthwhile checking out the ones you will probably need. For me, keyboard shortcuts means I can concentrate on the task at hand a bit more easily. How about you? Are any of these shortcuts helpful for you? What shortcuts do you normally use for Media Center? Is there anything else you can add? Let me know in the comments.

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Shortcuts can be added by using an easy to understand wizard or by importing a list of previously created shortcuts into Winlauch. The user has to define the shortcut type in the first screen, a program, internet shortcut or custom command for example. The next window defines the selected type further. A program could be selected from a list of programs that are currently running on the system or by selecting an executable file on the hard drive.

The final screen configures the shortcut key and the state of the window or application that will be started by pressing it. A state could be hidden, minimized or normal. The real novelty is that single keys can be assigned. This means that a user could configure the F12 key to open Thunderbird and F11 to open Firefox.

The existing shortcuts are displayed in a well arranged manner. Winlauch uses some sort of learn mode to find out if shortcuts from other applications are interfering with the user created shortcuts. Exceptions can also be added manually. For instance pressing F11 will enable full screen mode in all browsers. Adding applications to the list of exceptions will disable all shortcuts when those applications are focused.

Back to my initial need to use the F-keys and other single keys as shortcuts. Winlaunch provides the option to set any key as a shortcut, no matter if it is a single key or key combination. This unfortunately means that some keys will have double functions. F1 would open the Help and a program selected. I really hope Microsoft will add more flexibility to Windows 7 once it comes out, I really cannot see a reason to keep F1 as the help key since I never use the help.

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The numpad keys 7,9,1 and 3 are used to move the active window to a corner of the screen without resizing it and the 5 centers the active window on the screen. Each of the five keys needs the Windows key as well. Another function is provided by the + and – keys on the numeric pad which, when pressed with the Windows key, change the size of the active window to the resolutions 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1152 x 864 and 1280 x 1024 which is nice if you want to test a application in a specific resolution.

Last but not least the enter key on the numpad will maximize the active window or reduce the size of a maximized window to its normal size and the 0 key on the numpad will minimize the active window.

An alternate set of keys are available for laptop users who normally do not have access to the numpad. Freesnap is compatible to Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista and simply runs in the background once started.

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It hopefully might help some users who are starting to work with Windows and probably even some users who rely on the mouse to do everything in Windows. But before I start I would like to explain the reason why I’m using keyboard shortcuts in certain situations and not the mouse.

The main advantage of a keyboard shortcut is speed. Take the copy and paste example. A user who is using the mouse marks the text that he wants to copy, presses the right mouse button, selects copy from the list, moves to the new document where he wants to paste it, right-clicks the mouse again and selects paste.

Using keyboard shortcuts instead makes the right-click part of the process obsolete. Lets start with the Ten Windows Keyboard Shortcuts I cannot live without.

• CTRL C / CTRL V: This one is obvious and probably the most used keyboard shortcut in the world. CTRL C copies whatever is currently marked and CTRL V pastes the contents again. (C for Copy, V for Verbose)
• CTRL A: The copy and paste shortcuts work well with this one. CTRL A selects all.
• ALT F4: Closes the active window
• F3: This one opens the Windows Search.
• ALT TAB: Switches between open applications.
• CTRL P: Opens the Print Screen dialog.
• F2: Rename the active item
• CTRL ESC: Displays the Windows Start Menu.
• SHIFT DEL: Deletes the item immediately without moving it into the trashbin
• TAB: Move to the next control, excellent for forms.
• Spacebar: Checks a checkbox, presses a button if on a button, selects an option if on an option
• Return, ESC: Those are single shortcuts. Return is used perform the active command while ESC cancels the current task.

Those are my ten. Remember it’s only for Windows and not specific applications like Firefox (I would definitely have mentioned F11 then for example). If you find different Windows shortcuts noteworthy let me know please.

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I know that I can create keyboard shortcuts in Windows using program shortcuts. The problem that I have with this solution is that I have to use a key plus at least two of the following three keys: Shift, Alt or Ctrl.

I performed some tests on keyboard shortcut managers that would allow me to set keyboard shortcuts more easily. They all had the same restrictions though. What I wanted was a way to add a shortcut to a single key, say the keys F6 to F12 without running a program in the background all the time.

I discovered key demon which would add this functionality to the F6-F12 keys but only if it was running in the background. The second limitation of Key Demon was that it only made available keyboard shortcuts for those seven keys and no other key in Windows, say the Caps Lock key.

Is there a way to set permanent keyboard shortcuts to single keys ? What’s the best general keyword managing software anyway ?

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Clavier is a freeware that extends the ability of keyboard shortcuts in windows xp. You are free to use almost any key for the shortcut including the windows key. The interface is pretty straightforward – it displays a list of all current keywords with their shortcuts. To add a new keyboard shortcut you simply click on the + symbol below the shortcut list and select either a program from the start menu, internet favorites (IE only), a special char, a folder, a text that you want written, a program to launch or display website.

• Program: Select a program from your start menu that you want to open with the keyboard shortcut.
• Internet Favorite: Select a favorite that shall be loaded into the current browser with this shortcut. Favorites are imported from Internet Explorer only.
• Special Char: Display a special char with this shortcut.
• Open Folder: Use the keyboard shortcut to open the selected folder.
• Write Text: Write a text and create a shortcut out of it. You could for instance create a pc wide shortcut for your email address, a signature or even a letter.
• Launch a Program: This launches a program from the destination that you select. Many programs are not available in the start menu, that is why this option exists.
• Display a Website: This is similar to the Internet Favorite shortcut. The difference is that you specify the url by yourself with display a website.

Clavier has a built in autostart option which should be activated if you want to use it on a regular basis. It currently supports two languages: English and French. It is Open Source and does not have to be installed on the system if you download and unpack the version without installer from the authors website.

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Once you´ve finished adding categories you can add programs to them. Right click somewhere in the list below the category name and select “Dateipfad/Befehl hinzufügen” to add a program or “Ordnerpfad hinzufügen”  to add a folder for faster access. If you have troubles finding out what to do let me know and I will try my best to help you figure out what to do.