I’m so used to using this at this point, I tend to forget about it! But if it were to go away… oh boy would I be crying.

It’s called… wait for it…

PC-Com.

Now, does that name inspire you or WHAT??? OK, so maybe it has a lame name. So maybe the company that makes it also has a name you couldn’t remember if your life depended on it. That’s ok. YOU MUST HAVE THIS UTILITY!

And the price?

Hang on to your hats… it’s FREE, and if you want a few more features you can pay a whopping $10 for it to be upgraded.

Download it now here

Basically, it turns your “pause” key on a Windows keyboard into something useful! You hit Pause, and this program starts to “listen” for what you hit next. For example, when I want to launch iTunes, my MP3 player of choice, I just hit Pause followed by the letters it (technically I can type out the full name of the shortcut I defined, but it’s smart enough to know that the first shortcut starting with the letters “it” is my shortcut called “itunes”) and press enter. Instantly iTunes is launched. Same goes for opening my most commonly used folders, websites, or ANYTHING else! You could even combine it with something like AutoHotKey and REALLY do some amazing things!

But for sheer fast access to the stuff you use most, PC-Com is where it’s at. Another example, when I want to launch Traffic Equalizer, I just hit Pause and TE and it’s launched. LOVE IT!