Carnac

Keylogging, also commonly referred to as keystroke logging is an interesting technique used to study or observe the interaction between users and computers. Usually, this action is done covertly, and the user using the keyboard is unaware that his or her actions are being monitored.

This technique can also be used to display keyboard inputs in order to enhance a live presentation or even improve the quality of gaming-focused streams or stream casts.

Carnac is an application that takes full advantage of this technique. In short, by default, the app displays all your keyboard inputs in the lower right corner of the monitor. While in terms of actual functionality there’s not much to tell, the application boasts a surprising amount of customization features.

Double click the app’s tray icon, and you’re with two configuration sections dubbed General and Appearance. From the first section, you can change the popup’s top, bottom, left, and right side offset. This allows you to ensure that the keyboard input popups will always have the right position on your screen.

The Appearance tab provides a lot more versatility. You can change the popup text width, opacity, fade delay (expressed in seconds), the font’s size and color, as well as the popup bubble’s color. There are other little options that allow you to enable the app’s icon while the app is active, as well as change the default display for the Space key input, and that’s pretty much it.

Before we conclude, it’s also worth noting that the app has a feature called silent mode. This allows you to stop Carnac from recording your keystrokes and can be enabled and disabled by using the CTRL+ALT+P combination.

Carnac is a basic application that allows you or your audience a quick insight on what keyboard inputs you use for various tasks. If not for anything else, this can prove to be a very valuable learning tool in some cases.