In point of fact, not many. Each manufacturer provided their own sets of keys, and unique keyboard drivers that people were reluctant to install, and bulky buggy software that was supposed to handle extra key presses.

Keyboard Maniac adds a new dimension to the ability to control applications on your computer using convenient keyboard shortcuts and on any keyboard from any manufacturer. Put your music at your fingertips by controlling your favorite multimedia player with dedicated multimedia keys. Use your wireless keyboard as a powerful, fully functional remote control for watching movies. Save time by scripting your day-to-day tasks with pre-recorded keyboard macros.

Assign a single, easy-to-remember keyboard shortcut that does all the complex actions with a single press by recording global or application-specific macros. Macros are sets of key presses and mouse clicks that are invoked with the push of a single keyboard shortcut.

Winamp, Windows Media Player and PowerDVD are three popular media players. They all have controls to play, pause and rewind music or videos. Can your multimedia keyboard control all of them? Keyboard Maniac allows the same keys and shortcuts on your keyboard to work in different applications, allowing you to assign a single easy to remember key to control the music in various media players.

Keyboard Maniac is not limited to just the media players either. You can also assign convenient keys for the actions you perform most often in the office. For example, you can insert and format a complex table with a single key press. You could even program that key to work in a similar fashion in several completely different products, such as Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc!

The unique features of Keyboard Maniac allow using mouse clicks as part of your keyboard shortcuts. For example, you could assign your mouse wheel to control volume in the media player, while holding Shift and rotating the mouse wheel could control Previous or Next track.

There are many multimedia devices on the market, such as joysticks, gaming pads, steering wheels and dedicated remote controls. In most cases Keyboard Maniac lets you use these devices in just the manner that you find most convenient, allowing you to control Web browsing with a steering wheel or closing windows with a joystick's 'Fire!' button.

Keyboard Maniac increases your PC performance by saving extra memory and CPU cycles typically consumed by the monstrous proprietary software bundled by many keyboard manufacturers. Keyboard Maniac supports your keyboard directly and requires no additional drivers or OEM software.

Download a free evaluation version at http://www.keyboardmaniac.com/