HotKeyMan is an interesting tool which makes it easy to set up personal keyboard shortcuts to speed up your PC operations.

This starts very simply, with some basic shortcuts created during the installation process. Pressing Win + N will launch Notepad, for instance, whatever you might be doing. And pressing Win + S captures the current screen, then allows you to save the image to file with a click.

But that's just the start. Create a hotkey and you're able to choose the key itself, before selecting from a lengthy list of possible actions. Your shortcut can minimise, maximise or close the active window; open a document or launch a program; fire up the default browser with your chosen website; place the content of a given file in the clipboard; capture the active window or screen; exit Windows, or even send keystrokes to the current window.

These features are generally implemented in a very basic way, so for instance you can't send an Alt+F keystroke to open a menu in the current application, which limits HotKeyMan's possibilities for automation. The program is lightweight and easy to use, though, and if your needs are straightforward then it could still be very handy.

Recent changes have included the following:

HotKeyMan 1.21 - 16. jan. 2013
+ Open app settings folder button in settings window
+ Quick search in hotkey settings window
+ New hotkey function for showing HotKeyMan hotkeys on screen
* Will no longer allow the program to run more than one instance at a time