ProKey Plus. (operating system enhancement) (evaluation)
by Charles Idol

Popular with experienced computer users, macros sometimes perplex or intimidate computer novices. Even a novice, however, can appreciate the advantages of macros. Substituting a single keystroke for a series of strokes, macros save time and prevent typing errors.

Like most shortcuts, macros have some drawbacks. Creating macros so that Ctrl-E produces the closing lines of a letter and Ctrl-H writes letter headers only saves time if you can remember which key does what. ProKey Plus solves this problem. To help you write macros. ProKey Plus lets you annotate them. When you list your macros, you'll see a description of what a hot key does, rather than the usual litany of the component keystrokes. Prokey Plus, which occupies about 67K of RAM, interposes itself between your keyboard and any application you may be running. This means that you can use the program to define or execute macros from within your application programs.

Modern word processors are notorious for the complex keystroke sequences necessary to invoke their commands. Prokey Plus provides an alternative; I tested it with WordPerfect, arguably the word processor that puts you through the most rigorous keyboard gymnastics, and it worked satisfactorily. ProKey Plus is quite rapid in its response. I fault it only on its documentation. The manual is not tutorial in nature and needs more explicit examples. Even so, Prokey Plus in your library might go a long way toward easing the tension between you and your word processor!