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Highlighted are my most favourite features that hoekey provides outside of Windows,

  • Launch any program
  • Load a file in a specified editor
  • Maximize, Restore, Centre and move a window
  • Toggle keep a windows alway on top
  • Toggle Transparency on a window

I use these shortcuts with the my favourite Windows 7 built-in keyboard shortcuts,

  • Windows key + Shift + Left Arrow or Right Arrow - Move a window from one monitor to another.
  • Windows key + Up - Maximize current window
  • Windows key + Down - Restore current window

You can get a complete Windows 7 keyboard shortcut listing from Microsoft.

Tin's hoekey.ini for Windows 7 64-bit v2.0

These are updated keys given I am now using Mac OS X as my host with VMWare Fusion. I need to document and then link to how I do my keyboard settings with VMWare Fusion itself.

Some remaining items,

  • Create new folder
  • New in hoekey 1.1.5, be able to pass selected file to a program like notepad.
  • Consider changing some keyboard triggers
;  Simple Example HoeKey config
;
; Key Modifiers:
; ~=windows, _=shift, ^=ctrl, @=alt
;
; More details at http://www.bcheck.net/apps/hoe.htm
; Tin's hoekey.ini for Windows 7 64-bit
; See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable to understand environment variables

; Start in system tray
Start=TrayIcon|1|Double-click to configure your Windows Key
=Rem|-- General --
^Q=Config ;CTRL+Q: Configure HoeKey
~O=Run|"%SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Outlook 2010.lnk"      ;win+o: Outlook
~I=Run|"%SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Mozilla Firefox.lnk" ;win+i: Firefox
~@I=Run|"%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Internet Explorer.lnk"           ;win+alt+i: IE 32-bit
~_I=Run|"%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome\Google Chrome.lnk" ;win+shift+i: Chrome
; There is currently a bug where telnet.exe and some other commands will not work.
; This appears to be due to permissions. "dir telnet.exe /s" using Hoekey can not see.
; c:\Windows\System32\telnet.exe
; Strangely C:\Windows\System32\ping.exe works and appears to have the exact same permissions.
;
; Temporary solution, as a regular user copy telnet.exe to C:\Windows\ which is already in the system path.
;
~J=Run|%COMSPEC%|||C:\    ;win+j: Command shell
~^J=Run|%COMSPEC%|||%c    ;win+ctrl+j: Command shell in current directory
=Rem|-- Communication --
~K=Run|"%SystemDrive%\apps\KiTTY 0.63.0.2\kitty_portable.exe"        ;win+k: Kitty Putty
~^K=Run|"C:\Program Files (x86)\ExpanDrive\ExpanDrive.exe"           ;win+ctrl+k: ExpandDrive SSH Drive Mapping
; For working directory to work properly you must startup using a shortcut.
;~[=Run|"%SystemDrive%\apps\Putty Connection Manager\puttycm.shortcut.lnk" ;win+[: Putty Connection Manager
=Rem|-- Utilities --
; For some reason Araxis will not launch through Hoekey via the .lnk
~A=Run|"%ProgramW6432%\Araxis\Araxis Merge\Merge.exe" ;win+a: Araxis Merge
~^A=RUN|"%ProgramW6432%\Araxis\Araxis Merge\Merge.exe" %c %c ;win+ctrl+a: Araxis Merge Folder Comparison first argument is current folder
~N=Run|%SystemDrive%\apps\npp.6.4.5.bin\notepad++.exe|||%USERPROFILE%\Desktop    ;win+n: Notepad Plus Plus, default saves to desktop
~^N=Run|%SystemDrive%\apps\npp.6.4.5.bin\notepad++.exe %s|||                     ;win+ctrl+n: Load selected file into Notepad Plus Plus
~@N=Run|notepad.exe|||%USERPROFILE%\Desktop                                      ;win+alt+n: Notepad
; Does not work as I expect. Most likely will not use this function as on the Forums it is stated
; this has some performance issues. PureText is reliable so will use that instead.
;~V=Clip|%p  ;win+v current clipboard as plaintext 
;~^V=Clip|%P ;win+ctrl+v current clipboard as plaintext, removing returns and newlines
; Edit host file with admin rights
; This requires the elevate scripts and putting the line following line into a script file,
; C:\apps\cmd\elevate.from.command.line\elevate.cmd C:\apps\npp.6.4.5.bin\notepad++.exe C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
~^H=Run|C:\apps\cmd\xhosts.cmd ;win+ctrl+h: edit hosts file using elevate utility
;
; Though the above works, if you find the elevate prompt annoying just changed hosts file permission and use this,
;~^H=Run|C:\apps\npp.6.4.5.bin\notepad++.exe C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts ;win+ctrl+h: edit hosts file
=Rem|-- Folders --
~S=Run|%SystemDrive%\svn     
~W=Run|\\vmware-host\Shared Folders\data\Work
=Rem|-- Windows Manipulation --
~Y=Center||2
~^Y=Transparency||30% ;win+ctrl+y: Make current window transparent
~F12=AlwaysOnTop      ;win+F12: Make current window always on top
~^left=MoveRel||-10 ;win+ctrl+left: move current window left 10pixels
~^up=MoveRel|||-10  ;win+ctrl+up: move current window up 10pixels
~^right=MoveRel||10 ;win+ctrl+right: move current window right 10pixels
~^down=MoveRel|||10 ;win+ctrl+down: move current window down 10pixels
~end=Hide||1 ;win+end: hide current window to system tray
~^end=Unhide ;win+ctrl+end: show last hidden window from system try

=Rem|-- Clipboard --
; Not needed if you use VMWare Fusion 9 and override keyboards to do the same thing
;~C=Keys|\cc ;win+ctrl: Copy (for Apple users)
; Future Keys to overried
; Back 8
; PRINT 42

 

Tin's hoekey.ini for Windows 7 64-bit v1.0

Some remaining items,

  • Create new folder
  • New in hoekey 1.1.5, be able to pass selected file to a program like notepad.
  • Consider changing some keyboard triggers

With Windows 7 64-bit Telnet and certain files are not visible when jumping to the command line using Hoekey. A temporary fix for this is included in the comments. The Hoekey author is aware of this bug but also perplexed about why this happens.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts. The semicolons work in Hoekey as comments.

;  Simple Example HoeKey config
;
; Key Modifiers:
; ~=windows, _=shift, ^=ctrl, @=alt
;
; More details at http://www.bcheck.net/apps/hoe.htm

; Tin's hoekey.ini for Windows 7 64-bit
; See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable to understand environment variables


; Start in system tray
Start=TrayIcon|1|Double-click to configure your Windows Key

=Rem|-- General --

~Q=Config ;win+Q: Configure HoeKey

~^O=Run|"%SystemDrive%\Tin\connectivity\2keys mail and ciphershare.tlp"                                                          ;win+ctrl+o: Bitvise Tunneling for Outlook and Ciphershare
~O=Run|"%SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.lnk"      ;win+o: Outlook

~I=Run|"%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Internet Explorer (64-bit).lnk"   ;win+i: IE 64-bit
~^I=Run|"%SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Mozilla Firefox\Mozilla Firefox.lnk" ;win+ctrl+i: Firefox
~@I=Run|"%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Internet Explorer.lnk"           ;win+alt+i: IE 32-bit
~_I=Run|"%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome\Google Chrome.lnk" ;win+shift+i: Chrome

; There is currently a bug where telnet.exe and some other commands will not work.
; This appears to be due to permissions. "dir telnet.exe /s" using Hoekey can not see.
; c:\Windows\System32\telnet.exe
; Strangely C:\Windows\System32\ping.exe works and appears to have the exact same permissions.
;
; Temporary solution, as a regular user copy telnet.exe to C:\Windows\ which is already in the system path.
;
~J=Run|%COMSPEC%|||C:\    ;win+j: Command shell
~^J=Run|%COMSPEC%|||%c    ;win+ctrl+j: Command shell in current directory

=Rem|-- Communication --

~K=Run|%SystemDrive%\apps\KiTTY\kitty.exe                            ;win+k: Kitty Putty
~^K=Run|"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\ExpanDrive\ExpanDrive.exe"  ;win+ctrl+k: ExpandDrive SSH Drive Mapping

; For working directory to work properly you must startup using a shortcut.
~[=Run|"%SystemDrive%\apps\Putty Connection Manager\puttycm.shortcut.lnk" ;win+c: Putty Connection Manager

=Rem|-- Utilities --

; For some reason Araxis will not launch through Hoekey via the .lnk
~A=Run|"%ProgramW6432%\Araxis\Araxis Merge\Merge.exe" ;win+a: Araxis Merge
~^A=RUN|"%ProgramW6432%\Araxis\Araxis Merge\Merge.exe" %c %c ;win+ctrl+a: Araxis Merge Folder Comparison first argument is current folder

~N=Run|%SystemDrive%\apps\npp.5.7.bin\unicode\notepad++.exe|||%USERPROFILE%\Desktop    ;win+n: Notepad Plus Plus, default saves to desktop
~^N=Run|%SystemDrive%\apps\npp.5.7.bin\unicode\notepad++.exe %s|||                     ;ctrl+win+n: Load selected file into Notepad Plus Plus

~Z=Run|%SystemDrive%\apps\metapad351\metapad.exe|||%USERPROFILE%\Desktop  ;win+z: Metapad, start in desltop
~^Z=Run|notepad.exe|||%USERPROFILE%\Desktop                               ;win+ctrl+z: Notepad

; Does not work as I expect and logs me out
;~V=Keys|%p  ;win+v current clipboard as plaintext
;~^v=Keys|%P ;win+ctrl+v current clipboard as plaintext, removing returns and newlines

; Edit host file with admin rights
; This requires the elevate scripts
;~^H=Run|C:\apps\elevate.from.command.line\elevate.cmd C:\apps\metapad351\metapad.exe C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts ;win+ctrl+h: edit hosts file using elevate utility
;
; Though the above works, I find it's the elevate prompt annoying so instead, I just changed hosts file permission.
~^H=Run|C:\apps\metapad351\metapad.exe C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts ;win+ctrl+h: edit hosts file

=Rem|-- Folders --

~S=Run|%SystemDrive%\svn
~W=Run|%SystemDrive%\Tin\w

=Rem|-- Windows Manipulation --

~Y=Center||2
~^left=MoveRel||-10 ;win+ctrl+left: move current window left 10pixels
~^up=MoveRel|||-10  ;win+ctrl+up: move current window up 10pixels
~^right=MoveRel||10 ;win+ctrl+right: move current window right 10pixels
~^down=MoveRel|||10 ;win+ctrl+down: move current window down 10pixels

~end=Hide||1 ;win+end: hide current window to system tray
~^end=Unhide ;win+ctrl+end: show last hidden window from system try

~H=Transparency||30% ;win+h: Make current window transparent
~F9=AlwaysOnTop      ;win+f9: Pin current window to always show


; Future Keys to overried
; Back 8
; PRINt 42

Please feel free to comment on how these keys can be better optimized.

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