Summary
My hands spend a surprising part of the workday commuting. One leaves the mouse to press a shortcut, the other leaves the keyboard to click a menu, and they keep crossing paths over the desk.
Even with a few Windows keyboard shortcuts that feel like cheating in muscle memory, plenty of small actions still need a detour. A new mouse or keyboard won’t shorten that trip, but the right software does. Kando and PowerToys give my mouse more to do, while Flow Launcher and Vimium let the keyboard handle jobs that normally need a click.
Kando
My shortcuts sit in a ring around the cursor
Kando is a free, open-source pie menu for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Press its shortcut, and a ring of icons opens right where the cursor sits. You flick toward an item to run it, so the next action is always a short mouse movement away rather than a trip to the taskbar.
Version 3.0 turns every item into a short chain of actions. My signature item copies two lines of text, closes the menu, and presses Ctrl + V, so the sign-off lands wherever I’m typing. Other items open my Downloads folder, snap windows to either half of the screen, or start a screenshot with Win + Shift + S.
The part I use most sits under Menu Conditions. With Limit to Specific Apps, the same shortcut opens a different menu in Excel, with AutoSum, filters, and today’s date one flick away. I bound that shortcut to the Forward button on my Logitech MX Master 3S through Logi Options+, so one thumb press opens whichever menu fits the app in front of me.
Logitech already offers its own Actions Ring overlay for MX mice, and it’s handy if Logitech gear is all you use. I also work on my laptop’s touchpad, though, and Kando’s keyboard shortcut works there just the same.
Kando’s default shortcut is Ctrl + Space, which selects an entire column in Excel. I changed mine to Ctrl + Shift + Space in the menu’s Shortcut field.
Kando
- OS
- Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Released
- 2023
- Developer(s)
- Simon Schneegans
- Price model
- Free
Kando is an open platform that uses pie menus to enhance your mouse. You can move around your computer more efficiently by setting up customized menus. Dragging your mouse or cursor from one menu to the next can make the computer complete complex processes.
Microsoft PowerToys
Two modules most people never switch on
Most people install PowerToys for FancyZones or the color picker, but the less obvious PowerToys tools worth your time are where my mouse and keyboard got their upgrade. Mouse Utilities and Keyboard Manager do almost all of it.
In Mouse Utilities, Find My Mouse puts a spotlight on the pointer when I double-tap the left Ctrl key, which helps on a busy second monitor. Mouse Jump (Win + Shift + D) shows a miniature of every screen so I can click where the pointer should land. CursorWrap (Win + Alt + U) lets the pointer leave one edge and reappear on the opposite side.
Keyboard Manager covers the keyboard side. I set Ctrl + Alt + E to open Excel, Ctrl + Alt + M to open MakeUseOf, and Ctrl + Alt + S to type my email sign-off. My favorite is a remap limited to Chrome that makes Ctrl + Shift + W act like Ctrl + W, so a slipped finger closes one tab instead of the whole window. There are limits. PowerToys has to keep running for any of this to work, remaps don’t apply on the sign-in screen, and Microsoft doesn’t recommend Keyboard Manager for games.
PowerToys - OS
- Windows
- Developer
- Microsoft Corporation
- Pricing model
- Free, Open-source Microsoft PowerToys is a set of free Microsoft Windows utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity. Flow Launcher Apps, math, and commands from one hotkey Flow Launcher is a free, open-source search bar that opens with Alt + Space and keeps my hands on the keyboard. It finds apps and files like the Start menu does, but it also answers small questions. Typing 1250*0.18 returns 225 , ready to copy, before I’d have found the Calculator app. Action keywords come in handy, and these are the ones I use daily:
to run a shell command, such as ipconfig . - s to jump into Windows settings, as in s bluetooth . - kill to close a stuck app, as in kill notepad . - youtube to start a YouTube search without opening the browser first.
- pm install to browse the plugin store for add-ons like clipboard history.
PowerToys now ships its own launcher, Command Palette, on Win + Alt + Space, and it’s perfectly fine for opening apps. Flow Launcher’s action keywords and plugin store are why it stays on my PC. If you try both, turn off the older PowerToys Run module first, since it also claims Alt + Space.
Flow Launcher - OS
- Windows
- Price model
- Free Flow Launcher is a free, open-source launcher for Windows that replaces the Start menu with a fast, keyboard-driven search bar to launch apps, find files, run commands, and extend functionality with plugins. Vimium Browse the web with the mouse parked Vimium is a browser extension rather than a Windows app, but it earns its spot because I reach for the mouse most in the browser. It works in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, and it borrows its shortcuts from the Vim text editor. Press f, and Vimium puts a small letter label on every link and button on the page. Type those letters, and it clicks for you. Shift + F does the same in a new tab, which covers most of what I’d otherwise point at. A handful of other keys handle the rest. J and K scroll, Shift + H and Shift + L go back and forward, X closes a tab, Shift + X restores it, and Shift + T searches open tabs. Pressing ? (Question mark) shows the full list whenever I forget one. There’s a learning curve, and Vimium can’t run on browser settings pages or extension stores. Give it a week, though, and reaching for the mouse just to click a link starts to feel slow. That hardware upgrade can wait a little longer None of these tools cost anything, and none ask you to replace a single peripheral. My MX Master 3S and laptop touchpad haven’t changed. What changed is how much each button, shortcut, and flick of the wrist can do. If you live in a browser, start with Vimium. If your hand rarely leaves the mouse, try Kando first and give it one app-specific menu. PowerToys and Flow Launcher belong on almost any Windows PC, since they remove small detours you take dozens of times a day. Once those habits stick, .