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SnK launcher with support for hotkeys
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lcferrum/snk_hotkeysuite
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Search and Kill HotkeySuite 1. License ---------- Copyright (c) 2016-2017 Lcferrum This program comes with no warranty. You must use this program at your own risk. Licensed under BSD license - see LICENSE.TXT file for details. 2. About -------- SnK HotkeySuite is all-in-one solution for hung and unresponsive Windows apps which hinder further user interaction with OS, complicate Task Manager use or even force user to restart computer. SnK HotkeySuite, like Task Manager, is activated with key combination. But in contrast to it, when fired, will not require any more user input and will automatically search and kill troublesome apps. SnK HotkeySuite actually consists of two programs: HotkeySuite itself, a resident program that detects key combination, and SnK (Search and Kill), console tool that automatically kills Windows processes using search criteria supplied via command line. When started, HotkeySuite will reside in tray and launch SnK when certain key combination is pressed. Various launch options, such as actual key combination and SnK command line, can be changed through it's tray icon menu. You can learn more about SnK on it's GitHub project page: https://github.com/lcferrum/snk Check out 'Usage example' chapter in this README to find out typical SnK HotkeySuite use case. 3. Where to get --------------- You can compile SnK HotkeySuite by yourself (refer to COMPILE.TXT that comes with the sources) or download binary distribution (in the form of installer or ZIP archive) from Sourceforge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/sandk/files/SnK%20HotkeySuite/ Main project homepage is at GitHub: https://github.com/lcferrum/snk_hotkeysuite 4. Installation --------------- It is recommended to install and update HotkeySuite using installer with default install options. When using ZIP archive you can create portable installation. SnK is bundled with HotkeySuite installer, but not included with ZIP archive - if it's not already installed on the system, you should download it separately if ZIP archive was used for installation. If installer was used, HotkeySuite can be uninstalled using Uninstall shortcut in Start menu HotkeySuite folder (if it was created during install) or from Control Panel (in both cases, this will also uninstall bundled SnK). If HotkeySuite was installed from ZIP archive - no actual uninstallation is needed, just delete whatever was copied from archive with HotkeySuite settings file (.ini) and SnK scripts (.txt) stored in the same folder. 5. Usage -------- If HotkeySuite was installed with installer using default options - it should run automatically at user logon. If you have downloaded HotkeySuite in the form of ZIP archive or choose not to run it automatically during install, launch it manually using executable or link in Start menu (if it was created during install). If SnK is not found by HotkeySuite, it won't run and will ask to select valid windowless SnK executable. This may happen if you choose not to install bundled SnK distribution during install or downloaded HotkeySuite in the form of ZIP archive. In this case, select windowless SnK version present on the system or download SnK separately and place it's binaries in the same folder where HotkeySuite was installed. Settings are stored in INI file. If HotkeySuite was installed with installer, INI is located in user or common AppData folder (depending on installation type). Running HotkeySuite copied from ZIP archive creates portable installation - INI file will be stored in the same folder as HotkeySuite binary. Latter works only if HotkeySuite was not previously installed with installer, otherwise INI created by installer will be used instead. By default SnK scripts are stored in the same folder as INI file, but you can place them elsewhere and edit INI accordingly. Two environment variables are provided by HotkeySuite that you can use in INI path settings: %HS_EXE_PATH% and %HS_INI_PATH% - they provide absolute paths to executable and INI folders accordingly (w/o trailing backslash). Besides these two variables, you can use any other environment variable that is available at execution time. When HotkeySuite is running - it's icon is present in the system tray. Right click on it to bring up menu. Double click to quickly stop/start HotkeySuite. Stopping HotkeySuite doesn't exit application, but disables key combination used to launch SnK. In HotkeySuite menu you can choose to start/stop application, exit it or change various settings: enable/disable long press detection, change key combination used to launch SnK and edit SnK scripts used when SnK is launched. 6. Usage example ---------------- For this example it's assumed that SnK HotkeySuite was installed using installer with default options: SnK binaries are present and known to HotkeySuite, HotkeySuite is already launched, default SnK script is used, key combination is Ctrl+Alt+Backspace. Default SnK script is specifically tailored to be used with fullscreen video games, which are major source of nuisance associated with hung apps. It doesn't mean that it won't work with other hung apps, but first it checks for any apps running in fullscreen and only then switches to other hung apps detection methods. You can check what exactly this script does by opening it: right click on HotkeySuite icon in the tray and select "On single press..." menu item. This will open the sctipt in default Windows TXT editor (usually Notepad). Here you can edit it and save the changes. For now we will stick to it's default contents. Launch some fullscreen (exclusive or borderless windowed) video game that will be used as guinea pig. Wait for it to load. Now press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace and watch it die. Don't forget that any unsaved data (settings, game progress, etc.) will be lost! As you can see, though the game hasn't hung it still was killed by SnK because of fullscreen search criterion. SnK fully relies on the search criteria supplied via script and doesn't check if found app is really in hung state. So you should launch it only when you are sure that there really is hung app on the system and it should be killed (at least this applies to default script). If you don't have any videogame installed, it's time for some advanced stuff. Open SnK script (HotkeySuite "On single press..." menu item), comment current script by placing number sign (#) exactly at the beginning of the line where actual script starts (like all the comments above), add new line and type: +v /pth="calc.exe" This will instruct SnK to kill Windows Calculator when launched. Save and close the script, launch Calculator, press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, and voila! Calculator is killed. Once again, it is shown that SnK doesn't care if app was really hung - it just do what is told in the script. Revert script back to it's default state by deleting recently added line and uncommenting original script (remove number sign). Don't forget to save the changes.
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SnK launcher with support for hotkeys
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