I hate cPS Lock!!!

[Admin Yukiko]

If you are like me you find yourself hitting the caps lock key instead of the 'A' key. I can't tell you how many times I have entered a long line of text only to find that most of it is all capitals. Well, this won't happen anymore.

I scripted this small utility to disable the caps lock key. From now on I am "caps lock free" but here's the good news. I am making this available for you. So join the "caps lock free" generation. If you need to re-enable the caps lock key that can be accomplished easily by either exiting the script or by using a combination of keys. The commands are listed below.

Simply download the ZIP file and extract the capslockcontrol.exe file. When you double click it the script will disable your caps lock key. You will see a small "CLC" icon in your system tray. You can exit the utility or pause the script by right clicking on the icon and choosing the appropriate item from the menu.

If you want to make this automatically start whenever you boot your computer simply copy the file to your startup folder.

To make it available to all users on your machine copy it to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

To restrict it to only certain users open your Documents and Setings folder and look for a folder bearing the user's name and open that folder and simply follow this path - Start Menu --> Programs --> Startup and place the file in there.

Here are the key commands for the script:

The commands consist of key combinations. The first key in the command is pressed and the second key is depressed while still holding the first key down.

A capital 'L' prefix means the key on the left side of the keyboard and a capital 'R' prefix means the right the key on the right side of the keyboard. Example RShift means the right hand <shift> key. 'Win' refers to the Windows key on your keyboard.

When the script starts it is in "Caps lock disabled" mode.
LWin + CapsLock will turn on Caps Lock and enable the Caps Lock key to work as usual.
RShift + CapsLock will disable the Caps Lock key.
RCtrl + CapsLock will turn on Caps Lock and it will be locked in the "on" state until you use one of the other key sequences. This command was provided because I have a friend who likes to write his reports in all caps and I assumed he might not be the only one and just in case he uses the script I thought I'd provide it.

[Admin Yukiko]

Apparently some anti-virus software running under Windows XP reports this application as containing a trojan virus. Atleast one AV software does anyway, AVG Anti-virus by Grisoft. Unfortunately, that just happens to be what I run on my systems. I assume it sees that the application is watching the keyboard input and assumes that it is doing that for malicious reasons. The odd thing is that under Windows Vista AVG finds no threat in this application.

The upshot of this is that AVG, which is running on my webserver, deleted the file. I am working with Grisoft to update their virus definitions so that this will be remedied in the future. Unfortunately, as I am running their free version of the software this may take a bit longer than I'd like.

[Admin Yukiko]

Looks like AVG updated the virus definitions file so caps lock control is back on the server for those who want it.