The Definitive Stroke-Friendly Keyboard Driver Specification
I have had further thoughts on this and one of my late son’s best friends has sent me an e-mail, describing the programming techniques that need to be employed. Unfortunately, his company don’t have the time to write the driver.
The objective is to write a driver similar to the one that comes with the Microsoft Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000, which allows certain keystrokes to be disabled. The driver version is 6.0.6002.18005. When you install this driver it gives more details about the files involved.
But the ability to disable keystrokes needs to be extended.
- Microsoft allows you to disable a lot of keys, but I want to disable, such as control, Shift, Windows and Alt.
- In fact, I would like to be able to disable both left and right control and shift keys independently, as I sometimes find it easier to give up on my left hand completely and say do Shift-O, by spanning my right hand.
- I would also like to allow certain pairs of keys, like Control-C and Control-V, as I use them extensively to cut and paste.
- I think the Microsoft driver allows various profile of keystrokes to be setup, so that should be retained, so that if two users use the same machine, their optimum keystroke settings can be used.
There is an alternative approach to this driver, that I am investigating. The Microsoft Driver must store the list of key reassignments in the Registry. If I could find out how they do this, then I could write a Visual Basic 6 program to adjust that instead. That would in some ways be my preferred solution.
After all, there isn’t anything that a good Visual Basic 6 programmer can’t do! Microsoft know this and still use it to get themselves out of big holes. Otherwise, why would they have spent millions of dollars making sure that all Visual Basic 6 programs work on Vista and Windows 7? Not for charity for old farts like me!
I have made a bit of progress in this approach in that I have found where the Registry stores the settings. It is detailed on this web site.
I’m Cheering Microsoft On
I have received this article from an anti-spam list I subscribe to.
Microsoft has sued Connecticut resident Boris Mizhen for allegedly gaming Hotmail’s spam filters and sending unwanted emails to consumers.
Mizhen, who previously settled a separate spam lawsuit brought by Microsoft, allegedly got around the company’s anti-spam system by creating millions of new email accounts and then arranging for those accounts to classify his messages as “not spam,” according to the lawsuit.
Microsoft also named other companies as defendants, including three that Mizhen allegedly controls: Media Network, Inc., New Age Opt-In, Inc. and Permission, Inc. Microsoft alleges that those companies all present themselves as online ad companies, but are actually used by Mizhen to send spam.
“Defendants developed and executed an elaborate scheme to circumvent Microsoft’s Hotmail spam filters to disseminate a large quantity of spam email advertisements to Microsoft’s Hotmail users,” the company alleges in its complaint, filed last week in federal district court in Seattle.
Good luck to them. I also know that Hotmail uses filter information from Spamhaus, just as SpamAssassin does!
Business Contact Manager
Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 come with a piece of software that I consider totally unwanted and unnecessary; Business Contact Manager. The default installation sets this piece of software on your computer, but you then have to run a wizard to set it up. I never do, as no-one has actually told me what it does and how it is used. I certainly have no need for it.
A friend came to me with a computer that had developed a problem, where Outlook constantly failed on start-up. They used to have to re-install Outlook 2003, every few days or so, to open just get their e-mails. Now, I should say that their computer was a four year old HP, with only 512Mb of memory.
The machine seems OK now! But I removed Business Contact Manager.
Just as my machine is a lot better, now that I’ve removed this unwanted piece of software too.
When are people like Microsoft going to get the message, that most people are happy with their computer setup and don’t want to have new software, that they won’t use. At the least, the standard installation, should not install new software without asking if you want the rubbish.
It’s not just Microsoft who do this. McAffe add something Site Adviser. That’s unwanted too. At least by me!
To remove unwanted software go to the Control Panel and find the command that adds and removes software. Click on the unwanted software and you’ll be given the change to remove it.
The Anonymous Widower 