[Suggestion] Accessibility: Access Keys Missing from Context Menu in Notification Area

[Zian]

After right-clicking on the Rainmeter icon in the Windows taskbar's notification area, I could not see any underlined access keys.

Normally, they are present on each menu item so that the user can quickly select the desired item without using the mouse or pressing the up/down arrows repeatedly.

In recent versions of Windows, you can display the access keys by going to the Keyboard window under Ease of Access. Then, enable "Underline access key shortcuts in menus when they are available".

Do the access keys exist? If not, they can often be added by adding an ampersand ("&") in front of the desired character. For example, to make the "N" in "New" the access key, one might set the label's text attribute to "&New".

System Details:
- Windows 10 Version 21H2
- Rainmeter version 4.5.13.3632

[Brian]

We have not defined any access keys, and I am not sure it is really needed.

Most of the context menu is small enough to move the mouse to the item easily. The only exception to that is possibly the "skins" sub menu which can get large depending on the amount of skins you have installed - and I am not sure access keys would be possible, nor help in that situation.

I mean, if you already have to right click on the icon to get the context menu in the first place....your hand is already on the mouse/trackpad. It's only a small movement gets to where you are going (in most cases).

If you really want to use the keyboard after you have right clicked on the notification icon, you can use the arrow keys to navigate the menu.

-Brian

[Zian]

I fall into your last example ("If you really want to use the keyboard after you have right clicked on the notification icon") because I generally turn off Rainmeter, HWInfo64, and TPFanControl when using my ThinkPad T480 away from a desk and wall outlet.

I agree that I could use the up and down arrows but doing so doesn't lend itself as well to muscle memory. I'd prefer to avoid moving the cursor a considerable distance away from the notification area because there are other applications to deal with after I close Rainmeter.

As an example, when I close HWInfo64, I right-click on the icon and press Q.

With Rainmeter, the steps are either:

1. Right-click the icon.
2. Move the cursor away from the notification area and a third of the way down the screen.
3. Click.
4. Move the cursor back to the top of the screen.

Or

1. Right-click the icon.
2. Press the down arrow key
3. Press the down arrow key
4. Press the down arrow key
5. Press the down arrow key
6. Press the down arrow key
7. Press the down arrow key
8. Press the down arrow key
9. Press the down arrow key
10. Press the down arrow key
11. Press the down arrow key
12. Press the down arrow key
13. Press the down arrow key
14. Press enter.

[SilverAzide]

I fall into your last example ("If you really want to use the keyboard after you have right clicked on the notification icon") because I generally turn off Rainmeter, HWInfo64, and TPFanControl when using my ThinkPad T480 away from a desk and wall outlet.

Uh... what? Why would you bother? All those apps combined probably use less power than your browser or any other app you'd be running anyway.

But it's your call. If you really want to do this, why don't you just place a shortcut on your desktop that invokes a batch file that taskkills all those apps in one shot? Then a single-double click and you are done. Or bind it to a key if you just want a single keypress.

You could even create a simple skin that kills all those app and Rainmeter itself whenever you disconnect the power.

Or go nuts and create a scheduled task that uses an event-driven trigger which does everything automatically as soon as you disconnect power, then restarts everything when you reconnect... no keystrokes or clicks at all? There's a lot of ways to do this better than using a keyboard/mouse and manually ending all those apps one at a time, access keys or no.

[Jeff]

Do the access keys exist? If not, they can often be added by adding an ampersand ("&") in front of the desired character. For example, to make the "N" in "New" the access key, one might set the label's text attribute to "&New".

This feature actually exists, it's just undocumented, here's the thread from when it was created

[Zian]

>SilverAzide: Why bother?
Noise. 35.6 db(A), according to https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T480-i7-8550U-MX150-FHD-Laptop-Review.293682.0.html.

The T480 with a discrete GPU thermal throttles very quickly. When the computer is plugged into a wall at home, I have to set the fan speed to the highest speed and use an external fan.

When I'm on the go, the computer is much closer to my ears and performance is less of a concern.

>kill the processes?
Killing programs that read/write fan/CPU settings without giving them a chance to clean up after themselves seems a little risky. I can see the appeal though.

>Jeff
Thanks for the links. I'll give them a try.