Take Ctrl of your keyboard! (Part One)

I was raised by techies. One of the "rites of passage" was to ignore the mouse as much as possible.

Using the keyboard, I had to find a way to Minimize, Maximize, & Restore windows.

A key of keys:

# = Win Key

^ = Ctrl Key

! = Alt Key

+ = Shift Key

By pressing #Tab in 98 & XP, you could navigate a cursor across the taskbar windows. #+Tab would navigate backwards, as most + prefixes do. Once the cursor navigates to the window of your choice, you would press the "file" key to open the window's menu. From there, you'd press:

x to Maximize

n to Minimize

r to Restore

#Tab & #+Tab has a different function in Vista: it pulls a 3D "Alt-Tab" feature. To get the same function as in 98 & XP, in Vista the trigger is #t & #+t (the letter t).

{ Enter AutoHotkey }

Now I simply use:

#q to Maximize

#a to Minimize

#s to Restore

the active window.

AutoHotkey is a:

Free keyboard macro program. Supports hotkeys for keyboard, mouse, and joystick. Can expand abbreviations as you type them (AutoText).

To follow this tutorial, you will need to:

• use Winblows (er, Windows 95+)
• download & install AutoHotkey
• give me all of your GP or your HP

Now that AHK (AutoHotkey) is installed, let's do this!

Review – then download – this text/AHK file: minMaxAndRestore.ahk

Execute the file.

Play around with #q, #a, & #s.

If you like it, toss the file in your Startup folder. Everything in that folder should automatically launch once the user (you) logs on.