Inspired by Tony Targonski's wonderful
heat map of the dirt distribution in his keyboard, I decided to take all my keys off and give my own keyboard a good cleaning yesterday. (Honestly, everyone should do it once a year, unless you've got some crazy, futuristic, self-cleaning device.)
As I painstakingly scraped off all of the gunk, I learned two things. No. 1: I'm a proud
PC gamer. Most of the dirt was concentrated under W, A, S, and D. No. 2: I love my
keyboard and I hate my
mouse. My keyboard provides endless creative potential, while my mouse helps me click on
stupid links. I never clean my mouse.
In order for we keyboard lovers to make the most of our wonderful input devices, we need good
launchers, i.e. apps that let us run programs or load Web sites without clicking that silly mouse.
One of my favorites is
AutoHotKey, classic freeware that lets you create unlimited macros for your keyboard. It's much more powerful than a simple program launcher, but it also provides unique features such as expanding abbreviations like FWIW, BTW, or even WTF (?!) to their respective full phrases. (You can also use it to customize your mouse behavior, if you're into that sort of thing.)
Another app that's been getting some attention this year is
Skylight from
CandyLabs, which also makes
AppRocket. Skylight is still in beta, slightly unstable in my testing, but it offers quick access to real-time search results via Alt+spacebar.
A new program that I just recently discovered is
Keybreeze, which uses a system similar to Skylight, but it's super lightweight and very stable. During install, Keybreeze creates shortcuts for all of your programs and desktop items. Hitting a hot key then typing brings up the Keybreeze interface seamlessly, and a very helpful tutorial demonstrates how to use the program well.
Do you use keyboard launchers and macros to make your life easier? What are some of your favorite software programs for enhancing the power of your keyboard?
Learn about more free software and tell me your own picks in the blog.
New reviews
Video Software
CamStudio 2.5 beta License: Free
File size: 1.2MB
Minimum requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Category: Video Capture Software This free video-capturing software will surely let you make your own screencasts, but it's not nearly as easy to use as other popular commercial apps. The latest update adds an effects menu and multilanguage support, but for wide adoption, it needs to support more than two video formats.
Antivirus, Firewall, & Spyware
Corel MediaPlus One 2.0 License: Free to try; $49.99 to buy
File size: 246.46MB
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/Vista
Category: Media Management Corel MediaOne Plus lets you quickly and easily organize your digital photos and videos. It also backs up important files online, using a companion Sharpcast service. MediaOne Plus offers a solid collection of features in a logical interface. But is that enough these days?
Chat, VoIP, & E-Mail
Paltalk Scene 9.2 License: Free
File size: 49MB
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/Vista
Category: Chat Paltalk's integration of video, audio, and text chatting unified into one window makes for a strong chatware program that includes a wealth of features. Pop-up ads might motivate users to pay for a subscription or look elsewhere, but thousands of rooms on unlimited subjects make it easy to find connections.
The week in Webware
TechCrunch 40 Billed as a showcase for the 40 most exciting new products on the Web today, the TechCrunch event has been filled with unexpected hits and disappointing misses. Get unbiased coverage of all of the presenters at the TechCrunch 40, including Outlook in-box powerhouse
Xobni and e-mail consolidator
Orgoo.
Read more on Webware.com 
New from CNET TV
Auslogics Disk Defrag: First Look If your Windows PC is acting sluggishly, it never hurts to give your hard drive a quick defragmentation, especially if it's been a little while since your last cleanup. Auslogics provides a colorful and easy way to take care of an onerous task. Jessica Dolcourt offers a walkthrough of the program in this First Look video.
Watch the video on CNET TV 
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+1
keep up the good work my friend :)