KbMacro - a global hotkey utility for Windows NT/95/98


KbMacro allows you to take advantage of the natural keyboard
WinKey (between the Control and Alt keys on either side 
of the space bar) to create keystroke hotkeys to quickly launch 
a program.  Except for the keys reserved by the operating system,
all alphanumeric keys and F2 through F12 are available to be used.  
The operating system reserves the following keys:

	E  - Explorer
	R  - Run dialog
	F  - Find 
	M  - Minimize all (Shift-M undoes minimize all)
	F1 - Operating system help



Installation

Copy KBMACRO.EXE and KBHOOK.DLL to any directory and run KBMACRO.
This will create an icon that looks like a keyboard button in
the system tray (far right hand side of the task bar).  When you 
want to exit the program, right click the system tray icon and click 
Exit KbMacro.


Adding and Using Macros

The dialog for adding and removing macros is displayed when you
double click on the system tray icon.  To add a macro, click
the Add button, choose a hotkey, select the file you want to 
launch, and click OK.  The file can be an executable, 
a shortcut (.lnk) file, or any file that has an extension
association.  Environment variables can be specified with the 
normal %ENV_VAR% syntax and are expanded just before launching
the process.  The macro will then be displayed in the 
main dialog's Current Macros window.  To remove a macro, 
highlight it in the Current Macros window and click Remove.  

Once a macro is added, you can use a macro by pressing the WinKey 
and your selected hotkey.  As long as KbMacro is running (i.e.
the icon is in the system tray) the program you selected will
be launched.  The easiest way to make sure KbMacro is automatically
launched it to place a shortcut in your startup folder.

When you exit KbMacro all your macro settings are saved in the 
registry under the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\KbMacro and
read when KbMacro is restarted.  This allows you to set up a macro
once and have it remain active until you change or remove it.


Any feedback or questions about KbMacro (as well as feature requests)
can be sent to me at ast@halcyon.com.  For the latest version,
check my WWW site at http://www.halcyon.com/ast/swdev.htm