What hotkey(s) do *you* use to trigger FARR?

[mouser]

i really like the default pause/break hotkey for my desktop.
but i also have a netbook that doesn't have such a key, in which case i personally have used alt+backspace, and the ` character to trigger.

i wondered what other people use -- i know alt+space is common...

what do you use? do you have any custom FARR hotkeys set up to perform things like dictionary searches, etc.?

[hamradio]

One of em is Ctrl + Space for my hamNotes plugin.

[lanux128]

only the default 'Pause' key and Ctrl+Pause for dictionary..

[ewemoa]

I use Pause/Break because it's the default and doesn't seem to interfere with other things here very much.  Also have Alt+Pause configured to work with FARRFolders.

regarding alt+space and control+space

Alt+Space (system menu anyone?) and Control+Space I avoid because of conflicts with other things that I've been using for more than a decade.

[lanux128]

Alt+Space (system menu anyone?) and Control+Space I avoid because of conflicts with other things that I've been using for more than a decade.

i had the same problem and i mentioned this some time back.

[CleverCat]

alt+space for me - easier to reach! 

[phitsc]

Alt + Space opens the active window's 'System Menu' (don't know if that's what it's called), i.e. the one to move, resize, etc. the window. This menu is essential in cases where a window goes off the screen and can't be grabbed with the mouse any more     (sorry, just saw that this was mentioned numerous times by my fellow pre-posters)

I used to use Win + Space. But Windows 7 now uses this for something (can't remember for what right now). So I changed all of my boxes to use Win + Alt + Space. As you'll notice, these three buttons all lie next to each other, so you could even hit them with one hand only.

[f0dder]

Win+F12. Can't remember why I switched from the pause key - perhaps it interfered with Win+Pause, which brings up system properties?

[phitsc]

... perhaps it interfered with Win+Pause, which brings up system properties?

That one I didn't know. Very useful!

[joby_toss]

Ctrl+Space here.

[ewemoa]

Win+F12. Can't remember why I switched from the pause key - perhaps it interfered with Win+Pause, which brings up system properties?

FWIW, Win+Pause still brings up system properties here.

Nice touch -- prefixing the key reserved for debuggers with the Windows key

Going still further off-topic, I find the following puzzling:

Either WINDOWS key was held down. These keys are labeled with the Windows logo. Keyboard shortcuts that involve the WINDOWS key are reserved for use by the operating system.

from:

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms646309%28VS.85%29.aspx

Am I not supposed to use the Windows key for my own shortcut key definitions?

[tomos]

Either WINDOWS key was held down. These keys are labeled with the Windows logo. Keyboard shortcuts that involve the WINDOWS key are reserved for use by the operating system.

from:

 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms646309%28VS.85%29.aspx

Am I not supposed to use the Windows key for my own shortcut key definitions?

I've read somewhere: the deal is 'reserved' - i.e. at some stage some one of your key definitions could be taken over by a new universal shortcut from MS

[daddydave]

I'll still looking for the universal "delete all incompatible add-ons" button, but..

I have a TapTap shortcut of RightCtrl RightCtrl, to match my Launchy shortcut of LeftCtrl LeftCtrl

It looks like this in my TapTap.ini file (I also have Alt-F13 as my Launchy shortcut - not sure how you would enter Alt-F13 otherwise)

Code

  keymap	DLC		:	A+F13
  keymap	DRC		:	pause

[daddydave]

alt+space for me - easier to reach! 

Launchy uses this by default. I always change it because I use Alt-Space a lot within cmd windows (as in Alt-Space, E, P).

[f0dder]

Am I not supposed to use the Windows key for my own shortcut key definitions?

It's fine using them for your own purposes, as long as you realize they can be defined by Microsoft later on... which means you should never use them for defaults in software you release.

Too bad MS doesn't provide a clean way for the user to say he doesn't want those default hotkeys... which means you have to resort to keyboard hooks in order to unregister hotkeys from explorer.exe and whatnot.

[bgd77]

Win + Space on XP.

[Nod5]

Pause to show/hide FARR.

ctrl + Pause to open FARR and let it look up the (previously) selected text in a dictionary

I also have an autohotkey script to use Scroll Lock to clear the FARR inputbox and enter some FARR alias (which varies, currently it "alb" for the albumdisplayer plugin). You can hit that combo (pause and then scrollbreak) very quickly.

[yksyks]

Pause on the desktop machine, double-tap on Control on the notebook, despite those old problems with TapTap, described almost two years ago here.

[Alien282]

ALT + SPACE on Windows 7 Ultimate. Never had a problem with it. I can't believe anyone is using anything else, especially the pause/break key... that's just so horribly far from everything...

[kartal]

I use CapsLOCK

[ewemoa]

I've been using the Apps key (the one that brings up the context sensitive menu) in combination with a modifier for invoking a different tool recently.  I just looked for a way to use this in FARR but didn't find one.  Has anyone else had any luck using it?

...and now back to semi-off-topic things

I've read somewhere: the deal is 'reserved' - i.e. at some stage some one of your key definitions could be taken over by a new universal shortcut from MS

It's fine using them for your own purposes, as long as you realize they can be defined by Microsoft later on...

These two quotes suggest to me that unless I develop some good method of managing shortcut key invocation habits that I'd be better off not configuring any shortcut keys that use the Windows key...Perhaps using them for testing purposes would be appropriate though.

which means you should never use them for defaults in software you release.

Great point.  Thanks for this.

Too bad MS doesn't provide a clean way for the user to say he doesn't want those default hotkeys... which means you have to resort to keyboard hooks in order to unregister hotkeys from explorer.exe and whatnot.

Indeed.  Perhaps this will change in a future version of Windows.

[lanux128]

I've been using the Apps key (the one that brings up the context sensitive menu) in combination with a modifier for invoking a different tool recently.  I just looked for a way to use this in FARR but didn't find one.  Has anyone else had any luck using it?

i know the AHK way if you're interested..

Code: (autohotkey)

AppsKey & F12::
; Launch Farr now!
Return

[ewemoa]

i know the AHK way if you're interested..

Thanks for the tip -- it turns out that "different tool" is one put together with AHK_L so I've been using something similar

[IainB]

Because I was starting to run into Hotkey conflicts, and because I wanted to avoid using the (reserved) Windows key, I have started to use Pause/Break to make FARR pop up. Prior to that, I used Ctrl+Space.

By the way, for starting applications generally, I have moved to using this scheme:

• Use remapkey.exe to map CapsLock to RightShift.
• In AHK, Use the key combination LeftShift+RightShift+x - where "x" is any other single key - to start proggies up.

Since LeftShift+RightShift is such a daft combination normally, I figured there would be no conflicts (none found yet, either).

[ewemoa]

I have a TapTap shortcut of RightCtrl RightCtrl, to match my Launchy shortcut of LeftCtrl LeftCtrl

I used to have a set up pretty close to this -- it used two instances of FARR though.

I don't suppose FARR will natively support configuring double-tapping...