CiviKey

CiviKey is a feather-light application that facilitates an AZERTY virtual keyboard to help you with your work. It's practical for multiple purposes, such as entering sensitive information in the web browser when attempting to write credit card information to make a purchase, especially if you have strong suspicions that the computer you're using has been hijacked by keyloggers, which are capable of stealing those details based on the keys you type.

If your machine is equipped with a built-in virtual keyboard, then this utility comes to your aid if it's no longer functioning normally due to various reasons.

The setup operation doesn't take long and requires minimal attention, since there are no special options or third-party components bundled with the installation kit. However, it needs a specific version of .NET Framework to work properly, unless you already have it installed.

The virtual keyboard is gradually revealed on the bottom part of the screen, thanks to a fade-in effect. It adopts a standard .NET Framework and doesn't put too much emphasis on graphical elements. Instead, it opts for a simple and straightforward look. Some buttons have small-sized text, though, which might make them difficult to spot by some PC users.

The virtual keyboard stays on top of any other open windows and has a French format. This is different from the more popular QWERTY type in several aspects, such as "Fin" instead of the "End" key, or "Impr" instead of "PrintScreen".

The program creates an icon in the systray at startup and provides quick access to some options by opening the right-click menu. It's possible to switch the keyboard layout from AZERTY to iPhone or mouse format, open custom contexts from external XML files, or add new plugins (DLLs).

Moreover, you can explore a rich set of plugins in the integrated library when it comes to accessibility (e.g. common timer, scroller, sound on keyboard), prediction (e.g. letter or word prediction view), visual (e.g. basic editor, key highlighter), editor (e.g. basic letter predictor), and others.

It worked smoothly in our tests, without triggering the OS to hang, crash or indicate errors. We haven't experienced any stability issues, as it didn't hang, crash or prompt errors.

To sum it up, CiviKey comes loaded with a surprisingly rich set of plugins for personalizing a virtual keyboard.