Home Office: Still Hate Your Keyboard? Read This Now

Hey, did you read my newsletter last week? If not, here's a recap: I ranted a little about keyboards, supplied some alternative recommendations from readers, and cajoled you into forwarding the newsletter.

This week I'll pass along a couple of articles about keyboarding, show you where to find tools to remap your keyboard, and share a few powerful macro programs.

A Few Keystroke Solutions

True keyboarders--users who want to keep their hands on the keyboard and away from the mouse--have options. In "Keep Your Hands Off the Mouse," we show you all-too-common keystrokes that most of us have long forgotten. The article's ancient but the keystrokes are still current.

When you're using Outlook or Word, you might not know about the dozens of keyboard shortcuts available. I do because I've saved all of Jim Welp's terrific Office XP Tips newsletters. The one for keyboard people is "Office XP Tips: Shortcuts for Word and Outlook."

Neat Keyboard Remappers

In my Home Office column about keyboards, I mentioned a few ways to remap your keyboard's keys but didn't have room to talk about the other tools I've discovered. I know you like to futz with these things, so here are four neat ones.

Remapper XP: This free download swaps the CapsLock key with the left Ctrl key.

Keyboard Layout Manager: If you have to switch keyboard languages (from English to Serbian, say), this utility is for you. It's free to try, $15 to $55 to buy, depending on the version.

SwapKeys: Check out this program if you often use characters like the copyright or trademark symbol. SwapKeys remaps characters to keyboard combinations, letting you get special characters with simple keystrokes. It's free to try and $12 to buy.

CtrlPlus: This freebie lets Wordstar aficionados remap their keyboards so the diamond cursor commands work in almost all applications.

Dig this: So you're a recovering Wordstar user, eh? I have a site that'll amaze you because it proves beyond a doubt that Wordstar is still kicking. Think I'm kidding? How about a free tool to convert Wordstar to HTML or a command emulator for Word?

Make It a Macro

In last week's newsletter, I talked about keyboards that can play back keystrokes. Now I want to let you in on the software tools available to do the same thing.

A macro program takes a keystroke combination and turns it into a series of keystrokes. A good example is the line I stick at the end of some e-mail messages: "This is just an FYI so no reply is necessary. -Steve." Instead of repeatedly typing it, I just press Alt-F10--I used a macro utility to make the assignment.

QuicKeys 2.5: This is the one I use to make macros for the dozens of tasks I repeat every day. Most of my boilerplate e-mail responses are QuicKeys macros, as are many little things I do, such as inserting a time and date into documents, or cleaning up text in an e-mail message. QuicKeys isn't cheap--it's about $80--but once you use it, you'll wonder how you got along without it.

Keyboard Express: This utility is primarily for capturing and replaying keyboard strokes; it doesn't record mouse clicks. It's $24 to keep and free to try.

Macro Express: The $40 Macro Express is the older--and more powerful--sibling to Keyboard Express. Besides keystrokes, the utility captures mouse movements, has lots of macro wizards, and lets you create timed macros.

Dig this: Big deadlines demand even bigger time killers. If you've got one looming, check out Ad Code, a site that tests your ability to convert fake programming code into advertising slogans.

Sit Up Straight

All of these keyboarding tricks won't do you any good if you end up in the hospital because of sloppy ergonomics. So I found a short article that'll help you take care of your body. Read "Perfect Posture" for useful info.

Another way to make you feel good at the end of your home office workday (besides a bottle of Anchor Steam), is to grab a copy of Stretch Break Pro, a program that tells you when to stretch and take breaks. It's free to try, $45 to buy.

OTOH, you might be more interested in the beer. If that's the case, it makes sense for you to look at BarBack for Windows, a free-to-try, $40-to-keep utility that provides you with 3000 drink recipes.

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