Monday's Mac Gadget by John F. Braun Do Something Useful with Your Function Keys October 4th, 1999 QuickPop 2.11 ($10 Shareware) John V. Holder Sure, all of those function keys on your keyboard look cool, but how many people actually do anyting useful with them? Although they are frequently used in the PC and Windows world, hardly any Mac applications use them. If only you could somehow take advantage of these keys to perform useful tasks... Fellow Observer Bill James guided us to QuickPop, a control panel which allows you to map function keys, or any other key combination, to the Control Panel or Apple Menu Item of your choice. You can also define a keystroke to select your display bit depth, set your volume, or switch among applications. You can switch forward or backward, or display a list of running applications from which to choose. You can also define a keyboard and mouse combination (from among the Command, Option, Control and Shift keys) which will bring up a handy menu which will let you launch a Control Panel, Apple Menu Item, or set your display bit depth, or volume. This menu also shows a list of running applications, so you can switch among them with ease. For those needing to access partcular Applications, Control Panels, or Apple Menu Items on a frequent basis, QuickPop will help you access them, while taking advantage of all your keyboard real estate. Useful Link QuickPop Home Page   Map Keystrokes to Commonly Accessed Items Handy Popup Menu Allows Program Switching Too Monday's Mac Gadget is here to help you with those cool things that we all just have to have on our Macs. Shareware, Freeware, Postcardware, Emailware, and even commercial apps, Monday's Mac Gadget is here to help you find and use the best of these programs. John is a software engineer who works in the corporate R&D group of a Fortune 500 company, focusing on all aspects of communications technology. He has several degrees that claim he knows what he's doing when it comes to computers. After watching co-workers reinstall Windows, search for device drivers, and experience other horrors during the day, he's glad that he comes home to a Mac (compatible) computer. Have any comments, suggestions, or favorite Gadgets? Drop John a line at You can also Post Your Comments below. Current Monday's Mac Gadget Want to Supercharge Your Dock? Check Out Todos! - August 21st Worried About Your Mac Getting Jacked? Get JackSMS - June 12th Want iChat with Tabs? Try Chax! - April 3rd Visit Monday's Mac Gadget Archives for more great Mac Gadgets!