The System 7 Pack! Extras Control Panel is an easy to use utility that gives you instant hot key access to a variety of functions. Currently, it offers the following features:
—Accelerated Empty Trash
—ShutDown
—Restart
—Sleep
—Set Volume…
—Mac Task Manager
—Switch to Next Application
—File Sharing Toggle
Configuration:
Configuring the control panel is simple. Just click on one of the functions in the list box, and then click on the Select Hot Key… button. Then you can type the hot key of your choice, using the control, option, command, shift keys as well as any other key on your keyboard. Once you are satisfied with your choice, click on the OK button.
You can also use the keyboard instead of the mouse to change hot keys. The up and down arrow keys will move the selection up and down, and return will yeild the Select Hot Key… dialog box. After you type in the key you’d like to use, you can type return to dismiss the dialog box.
Repeat the above process for each of the functions that you want to activate. You can also deactivate a function by hitting the Clear Key button after hitting the Select Hot Key… button.
To check the hot keys assigned to your functions, just click on them and view the hot key displayed underneat the Select Hot Key… button.
You can also test out the functions of the System 7 Pack! Extras Control Panel by selecting a function and hitting the test function! Before you try them all though, remember that shutdown and restart will indeed do just that! :)
Changes will take effect immediately, so you will not have to reboot to change hot keys. (Of course, you will need to restart after first installing the System 7 Pack! Extras Control Panel into the System Folder in order for it to load at startup.)
Just hit the hot key that you assigned when configuring the Control Panel and the feature assigned will take effect. The shutdown, restart, and sleep features are all Finder-safe in that they use AppleEvents to tell the Finder to perform these options. So that hitting these hot keys is exactly the same operation as selecting them from the Finder. It’s particularly good for functions like shutting down and restarting, since they will ask you to save any unsaved documents before taking their actions. They won’t simply shut down or restart without giving you a chance to save your work!
The one downside to this approach is that it requires applications to be able to send AppleEvents. You will not be able to use the shutdown, restart, and sleep commands from within applications that aren’t able to use AppleEvents because the System ignores AppleEvent messages from these applications. The accelerated Empty Trash command also has the same requirement, as it also uses AppleEvents to let the Finder know that the trash has been emptied. If the application you are using is not AppleEvent aware, and you enact the accelerated Empty Trash hot key, it will leave one files and folders in the trash. You can erase these at any time by hitting the hot key inside an AppleEvent aware application such as the Finder.
Set Volume…:
The Set Volume… hot key lets you change the speaker volume on the fly. Just hit the hot key you assigned for it, and then click on one of the numbers to set the volume. You can also type a number from 0 to 7. It’s that simple.
Mac Task Manager…:
The Mac Task Manager… hot key brings the Windows Task Manager to the Macintosh. When you invoke the hot key, a dialog box will appear with a list of all open applications. You can then use the mouse, or the keyboard to move to the application of your choice. The up and down arrow keys move the selection, and the return key moves you to the selected application. I think you’ll agree that it’s a vast improvement over the Mac’s Application pull-down menu. Once you start using this feature, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it!
Switch to Next Application…:
The Set Volume… hot key lets you change the speaker volume on the fly. Just hit the hot key you assigned for it, and then click on one of the numbers to set the volume. You can also type a number from 0 to 7. It’s that simple.
File Sharing Toggle:
We’ve brought the functionality of our File Sharing Toggle product to the System 7 Pack! with this convenient hot key. File Sharing is one of the best features in System 7, but it’s not without its drawbacks. Running File Sharing slows down your machine some and uses up some of your memory. And there are always those times when you’d rather not be on the network. With the File Sharing Toggle hot key, you’ll be able to turn File Sharing on and off with the hot key of your choice—a big improvement over going to the Control Panels folder, finding and opening the Sharing Setup… Control Panel, and hitting the start/stop button.
What are the differences between System 7 Pack! Extras Hot Keys and Command Keys that I set with the System 7 Pack?
That’s a good question! The Control Panel and the menu command keys features of the System 7 Pack! do overlap somewhat, but there are major differences between them. I’ll refer to the System 7 Pack! application as the “Application” and the System 7 Pack! Extras Control Panel as the “Control Panel” in the following list.
1) The Application’s command keys will only work in the Finder. They will not work System wide. The Control Panel’s hot keys will work system wide, including the Finder. Some of the hot keys do require you to be using an Apple-Events aware application to work as described above.
2) The Control Panel will have precedence over the application in the Finder if they are both set to the same key.
3) The Application only allows you to use command keys, but doesn’t allow you to use the option, control, shift, or function keys. The Control Panel lets you use any key combination (or single key) on your keyboard.
4) If all extensions are turned off (say by holding down the shift key when you reboot), the Application command keys will still work, while the Control Panel’s hot keys will not. The Control Panel needs to be loaded in order to operate, while the Application does not have to be loaded for its command keys to operate.
5) If all this sounds confusing, don’t worry about it. In essence, you should feel free to use both programs. In instances where you set them to the same key, the Control Panel will take over. The Control Panel only has a few functions that overlap with the Control Panel, so in most cases you’ll want to use the Application. Where they overlap, you’ll have your choice. In those cases, the Control Panel is probably the better choice as its hot keys are more flexible (any key or key combination on your keyboard) and more powerful (can be used system-wide, Emptying of Trash is accelerated).
