LiveEdge

Basic functionality of input devices such as your keyboard and mouse are not all controls you get to work with. These can be combined in order to extend comfort, and functionality. For instance, specialized applications like LiveEdge give you the possibility to configure hotkeys to trigger whenever the mouse touches specific screen edges.

Before you go off installing the application to see what it’s about, you need to make sure that .NET Framework is deployed on your computer, although modern Windows iterations come with it as a default feature.

Once installed and launched, it minimizes to the tray area, and you need to bring up the settings panel in order to configure areas, and hotkeys to use. Edge interaction was introduced back with Windows 8, even though it sparked some controversy, and frustration, but this application can make the whole experience comfortable.

You get to configure up to six different hotspots, for lower and upper sides, left and right upper edge, as well as upper corners, with the lower side of the screen remaining reserved for the taskbar, so you don’t accidentally trigger any functions. This automatically means it works best if the taskbar is in its default position.

The application can only be set to trigger hotkey commands, and this is done in the active space or window. You can use it with browser shortcuts, without messing anything up in other applications, given those commands aren’t already assigned.

On the other hand, there’s the possibility to launch applications, and games this way too. For this to be possible, you need to set a hotkey for the target shortcut, and then configure in the application’s settings panel. Moreover, hotkey lists can be saved to file, to load other configurations when needed.

Taking everything into consideration, we can safely state that LiveEdge brings some degree of comfort to your desktop, but you need to be extra careful with the choice of hotkeys you want to assign. The process of adding hotkeys can be a bit of a hassle, even with the help panel nearby, but once configured, you’re sure to give it another try.