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Every trick to make it work better (and that
might annoy Google)Hack YouTube
- • Drag and drop like an expert
Secret tips you need to master - • Fix a broken keyboard
Replace letters & change settings
DO CLEVER THINGS WITH YOUR KEYBOARD & MOUSE
14
Type long phrases
instantly
How many times this year have you
signed off an email with an identical turn
of phrase? You can use a Tex t (www.
snipca.com/42081) to stop this becoming
tiresome by defining snippets that, when
typed, are instantly replaced by much
longer phrases.
So, for example, to save you typing
‘thank you very much’ a dozen times a
day, you could create a new snippet for
that phrase and attach the abbreviation
‘tyvm’ (see screenshot above right). Every
time you typed tyvm, it would be
swapped for the complete sentence. You
can create both plain text and rich text
snippets – the latter can include images
and formatting.15
Change what certain keys do
If your volume buttons have
stopped working, or you want to disable
the Caps Lock key so you don’t hit it by
accident when reaching for Shift, use
SharpKeys to ‘remap’ your keyboard’s
behaviour, changing what a certain key
does.
Download it by clicking the
‘sharpkeys394.msi’ link at http://www.snipca.
com/42082, then launch the file and
work through the installer screens.
Click ‘Add’ (^1 in our screenshot below)
to remap your first key, then click TypeKey^2 below the left-hand column and
press the key you want to change. Now
click Type Key below the right-hand
column^3 and press the key you want it
to emulate. Click OK^4 , followed by
‘Write to Registry’, then click OK, log out
of Windows, and reboot your computer
for your changes to take effect.
To return a button to its original function,
open SharpKeys again, select the changed
key in the list on the opening screen, and
click Delete. Click ‘Write to Registry’
again to save your changes, and reboot
your machine for them to take effect.16
Browse the web quickly
with your mouse
If you’re anything like us, your hand will
rarely leave your mouse when browsing
the web, even though common shortcuts
like Alt+left and Alt+right can be used in
many browsers for going back and forth
through a tab’s browsing history.
X-Mouse Button Control (XMBC) can
help here. We’re going to use it to reprogram
what happens when we press left or righton the scroll wheel of a tilting mouse. In
our case, our laptop also emulates this
function when we swipe left or right with
two fingers on the trackpad. This may be
dependent on your laptop, so check your
own trackpad to see whether yours does
the same.
Download XMBC by clicking the ‘Latest
version’ link (top left) at http://www.snipca.
com/42084. Open the download and work
through the installer, leaving everything
at its default setting. Now click the dropdown
menu below Tilt Wheel Left and select
‘Simulated Keys: (undefined)’ (^1 in our
screenshot below). Click the dropdown
menu at the top right of the following
screen^2 , hover over the Modifier Keys
sub-menu, and click Alt on the menu
that appears. Click the same button, hover
over Direction Keys, then click Left^3.
Finally, click OK^4. Windows will now
interpret a sideways press to the left on
the tilting mouse wheel as an Alt+left key
combination.
Repeat the above process, this time for
the dropdown menu below Tilt Wheel
Right, and select Right when choosing a
button from the Direction Keys menu.
Click Apply.
Test your new setting by opening a
browser window and navigating to a page
of your choice. Now tilt the central wheel
of your mouse to the left to navigate back
to the previous page.Issue 633 • 8 – 21 June 2022BEST FREE
S O F T WA R E
FOR VITAL PC TASKSWe used XMBC to change what a left- and right-click does on the
SharpKeys can change what certain keys do when you press them scroll wheel of a tilting mouse
Use aText to create snippets you type to
trigger longer phrases1
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