Magfy

Certain pieces of software and operating systems are used for different purposes and scenarios, which is why many people like to switch between them on the same machine to get the best of both worlds. In doing so, adjusting your workflow to fit both types of interaction patterns may be a challenge, which is where cross-platform programs such as Magfy come into play, allowing you to have the same custom hotkey combinations across Windows and Linux.

The app ships in a zip archive format that, once extracted, requires users to install its included security certificate by right-clicking the bundled executable to summon the “Properties” window, navigating to the “Digital Signatures” tab and implementing it in the appropriate store before getting accustomed to the software’s core functions. While this step may be slightly inconvenient for certain users, it thankfully only needs to be executed once, and its existence is meant to prevent untrustworthy utilities from compromising your system stability and privacy.

When launched, the program stays in the background to listen for users’ inputs and act accordingly without requiring them to jump through multiple menus or interfaces to do so. Before delving any deeper, users are encouraged to open the included configuration file using the text editor of their choice to both become familiar with the available options, while also making the most of the app’s flagship feature, namely — the ability to change the default settings and create custom keyboard and mouse shortcuts that both suit their needs and avoid clashing with other programs’ hotkeys.

Spotting imperfections when editing various images may be a challenge depending on the maximum zoom capability of your preferred graphic editing suite, which is why the program allows you to increase the magnification factors while zooming both in and out of a certain portion of the screen, thus avoiding repetitive activation to get to the desired amount of zoom. Finally, one way to enhance the already intuitive usage pattern is by either letting the app start at the same time as the system or create a custom keyboard shortcut to launch it through a powerful scripting language such as AutoHotKey.

If Windows’ current shortcuts for activating the built-in magnification tool are not accessible enough for your daily workflow, then Magfy’s easily customizable parameters may be the right alternative for ensuring pixel-perfect image editing operations, triggering tiny tap targets within an app’s layout and reading smaller fonts within a website’s terms of service or cookie policies in the case of users with lower visual acuity.