"Shortcut key" on Windows start menu shortcuts

[MarcS]

Hi -

For as long as my fingers remember, I've had Windows start menu shortcuts with "shortcut key" set to e.g. Ctrl-Alt-1 for 4DOS then 4NT.

I'm trying to do this with Take Command 9, and it's only partly working.

With 4NT, I can start Windows, key Ctrl-Alt-1, and get a 4NT window. This works for Take Command also.

If I don't close that 4NT window, I can Alt-Tab to other Windows, use Start and desktop shortcuts to open other windows, and use Ctrl-Alt-1 to get back to my 4NT Window. I can't get this behavior on Take Command - it seems to take focus away from whatever window had it, but not give it to Take Command. I tried a couple other Windows apps which behaved like 4NT, not like Take Command.

Am I missing something, or does anybody know a workaround, or hope for a fix in later release?

Thanks.
-- Marc

 

[Charles Dye]

Re: "Shortcut key" on Windows start menu shortcuts

For as long as my fingers remember, I've had Windows start menu shortcuts with "shortcut key" set to e.g. Ctrl-Alt-1 for 4DOS then 4NT.

I'm trying to do this with Take Command 9, and it's only partly working.

With 4NT, I can start Windows, key Ctrl-Alt-1, and get a 4NT window. This works for Take Command also.

If I don't close that 4NT window, I can Alt-Tab to other Windows, use Start and desktop shortcuts to open other windows, and use Ctrl-Alt-1 to get back to my 4NT Window. I can't get this behavior on Take Command - it seems to take focus away from whatever window had it, but not give it to Take Command. I tried a couple other Windows apps which behaved like 4NT, not like Take Command.

Am I missing something, or does anybody know a workaround, or hope for a fix in later release?

On the few occasions when I've messed with the Start-menu hotkeys support, I've found it somewhat flakey. You might instead look for WinKey, freeware by I think Copernic Systems. It's no longer supported, but I believe you can still find copies available for download. In addition to being more reliable than the Windows feature, it also supports additional key combinations, including the Windows logo key -- hence the name, I reckon.

 

[gaute]

I have used 4DOS, 4OS2 and 4NT for years and years, and just started evaluating TCMD. I have the exact same issue. Anyone?

-gaute

 

[Steve Fabian]

gaute wrote:
| I have used 4DOS, 4OS2 and 4NT for years and years, and just started
| evaluating TCMD. I have the exact same issue. Anyone?

What issue? There is no issue in the message body!

There is an issue very imprecisely implied from the "subject". If you mean
that by installing a shortcut (.lnk) file in either %ALLUSERSPROFILE\Start
Menu or %USERPROFILE\Start Menu depressing the "windows" key shows a
shortcut to run that shortcut, but does not have an underlined "accelerator"
key, remember that under those conditions the first letter of the name
displayed acts as the accelerator key. E.g., if you have a file

%ALLUSERSPROFILE\Start Menu\TCC9.lnk

the T key is your accelerator key (at least in WinXP). If it is the only
menu entry for which T is the accelerator key, just pressing "windows"-T
will run the shortcut. If there is more than one entry with T as its
accelerator key, "windows"-T will highlight the first "T", and repeatedly
pressing T will cycle through all "T" entries. "Enter" causes running the
selected entry.

Personally, I keep the start menu nearly empty. In the
%ALLUSERSPROFILE\Desktop directory I have 78 shortcuts, of which 41 have
ctrl-alt-KEY "hotkeys" (terminology in the report of the SHORTCUT command,
Windows Explorer refers to them as "shortcut key", which is the terminology
I believe your "subject" used). My hotkeys are the letter and number keys
(all on the main keyboard), and the function keys.
--
HTH, Steve

 

[gaute]

> | I have used 4DOS, 4OS2 and 4NT for years and years, and just started
> | evaluating TCMD. I have the exact same issue. Anyone?
>
> What issue? There is no issue in the message body!

No, because there was a very precisely described issue in the body of the original post. :)

Sometimes reading the whole thread comes in handy!

 

[MarcS]

Thanks for the suggestion. I found a post somewhere that said WinKey didn't work on Vista.

But I got exactly what I want using AutoHotKey, free at www.autohotkey.com.

This AutoHotKey script lets me use Ctrl-Alt-2 to get back to an existing Take Command window if there is one, otherwise it opens a new Take Command window:

^!2::
IfWinExist TC 9 - TCC Prompt
WinActivate
else
Run "C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD9\tcmd.exe"
return
​

Hope this helps somebody else.

-- Marc