YoucanemulateCapsLock,NumLock
andmoreonyourscreenConnecta wirelessnumerickeypadto
maketypingnumbersquickerandeasier
Volume Mixer provides full control over
eachapplication’svolumelevelRestore missing tools
Discuss on-screen keyboards at http://www.facebook.com/webusermagazine 22 Jan - 4 Feb 2020 51
Alternatively,runthekeypadappon
youriPadoriPhone,positionthedevice
onthedeskbesideyouanduseit asan
extensiontoyourregularkeyboard.
NumPad,£3.99fromtheAppStoreat
bit.ly/numberapp493doesexactlythis
and,aswellasbeingcheaperthana
hardwarenumerickeypad,it’smore
environmentallyfriendly.If yourphone
ortabletrunsAndroid,checkout
Monectinstead(www.monect.com).
Add on-screen
status indicators
If your keyboard lacks indicators for
Caps Lock, Num Lock and so on, it can
be difficult to correctly type passwords
when the characters you’re entering are
obscured on your screen. You can’t
retrofit an indicator light so, if you need
a visual indicator, you’ll have to resort
to free tools.
Keyboard LEDs adds lights to the
system tray at the far end of Windows’
taskbar. Download the EXE file for free
from bit.ly/keyboardleds493 (it’s also
available as a ZIP file from the same
link). When the program launches,
optionally tweak its settings to suit your
way of working. By default, it uses red
indicators for Caps Lock, Num Lock and
Scroll Lock, but you can change this
using the options that appear when
Keyboard LEDs first runs so you can see
immediately what’s active (and what’s
not) on your PC. You can also enable ordisable a chime with every change of
status, and even adjust what you’re
tracking if you want to alter the order of
the lights.
Keyboard LEDs automatically
disappears when you click away from
it because Windows positions it with
your hidden icons. However, it’s most
effective when permanently on display,
so click the upward-pointing chevron to
reveal the icons, hold down on the LEDs
and drag them onto the taskbar, beside
theWindowsclock.Control the volume
of programs
If your keyboard has no integrated
volume controls, use Windows’ built-in
volume tool by clicking the speaker icon
on the right of the taskbar, then using
the up and down cursor keys to increase
and decrease the volume.
This method only controls the volume
of the default output device as a whole.
For finer control, use the volume mixer,
which lets you control both the overall
output level and the volume of
individual applications. Press the
Windows key and type sndvol, then
click the top result. You can now use the
up and down cursor keys to control the
volume level for the output device (as
before) and, by pressing the Tab key,
move across to the applications slider to
change that in the same way.Get Caps Lock on
Chromebook
If you’ve ever used a Chromebook,
you’re likely to have noticed two things:
the lower-case etching on the keyboard
and the lack of a Caps Lock key, which
is replaced with a Search button
(Chromebooks are, after all, a Google
invention). To use the Search key as a
Caps control, simply press the Search
button while holding Alt and you’ll
remain in Caps mode until you next
press Shift.Diacriticsareaccentsandflourishes- é andù,forexample– thathelp
guidepronunciation,whilesymbols
arecommonly-usedpictograms–
suchas© and™ – thatoftenaren’t
spokenbuthavespecificusesin
writtentext.Inmanycases,they’re
availabledirectlybycombiningAlt
Gr(totherightofthespacebar)with
a shortcutkey.So,AltGr+Cgivesyou
©,AltGr+Tproduces™ andAltGr+R
resultsin®. Yourkeyboardmayalso
bemarkedwithaccentedcharacters,
whichareaccessedinthesameway.
Onourkeyboard,combiningthe
vowelkeyswithAltGrletsustypeá,
é, í, ó andú,whileusingit withthe 4
keygivesusthe€ symbol.
If thecharacteryouneedisn’t
availabledirectly,pressStart,type
mapandclickCharacterMap.This
showsallthecharactersavailablein
eachofyourinstalledfonts– just
TYPING DIACRITICS AND SYMBOLS
clicktheoneyouwant,followedby
Select and Copy. Now switch to the
program in which you want to use
the copied character and press
Ctrl+V to insert it.The Character Map tool finds characters
that don’t appear on your keyboard