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Settings: Macros
The Macro buttons are one of the best features of your remote. You can
use them to load a favorite MP3 playlist, start a favorite Internet Radio
station, launch a PowerPoint presentation, or load your DVD player. You
can customize your macros by clicking on the Macros tab of the Settings
dialog box:

Each macro
button has a few options. The default is QuickLaunch,
which can be used to launch a file, application, or web site by
clicking the Browse button and choosing what you would like to
open. If you would like to open a web site, simply enter the
URL you wish to load and it will open in your default browser
when the button is pressed.
The other option
is to select select a customized activity that you might want to
perform by pressing that particular button. The choices are:
Toggle Mouse
Mode On/Off
Turn on/off Mouse Mode so that you can use the arrow buttons to either
simulate keyboard arrow buttons (Mouse Mode Off) or use the arrow
buttons to control your mouse cursor (Mouse Mode On). See Settings: Advanced for more information on
Mouse Mode.
Cycle Through
Open Windows ("Alt-Esc")
If you have several program windows open, you can cycle between
each of them by pressing the macro button. This works the same as
pressing "Alt-Esc" on your keyboard.
Switch Between
Two Open Windows ("Alt-Tab")
If you have two program windows that you would like to switch
between, you can do this by pressing the macro button. This works
the same as pressing "Alt-Tab" on your keyboard.
Toggle Full
Screen On/Off ("Alt-Enter")
Some programs (not all!) will allow you to enter a "Full
Screen" mode by pressing "Alt-Enter". This macro
setting allows you to simulate pressing "Alt-Enter" on
your keyboard.
Show/Hide
the Start Menu
You can show and hide the Windows Start Menu with this setting.
This is useful if you want to launch a program on your Start Menu
using your remote.
XP MCE:
Back
If you're a Windows XP Media Center Edition user, you can use this
setting to go back a screen while in the Media Center. This will
also go back in a web browser.
Browser
Forward
Use this setting to go forward in your web browser's
history.
XP MCE:
Start
If you're a Windows XP Media Center Edition user, you can use this
setting to launch the Media Center application itself.
Using
QuickLaunch
Here are some examples
to demonstrate the different ways you can use your Macros:
Example 1
C:\MyMusic\playlist.m3u
One of the best ways to use Macros is to launch an MP3 playlist (.m3u
file), which is essentially just a list of MP3's (you can create a playlist
with programs such as Winamp). In
this example, playlist.m3u is a list of my favorite MP3's. Now if I want
to hear my best songs, all I have to do is press the macro button on my
remote control. After you create your playlist, you can click "Browse..."
to load the ".m3u" file from your disk drive.
Note that this example
doesn't specify which media player to launchit just specifies the
playlist filename. When you do this, your playlist will be launched with
whatever media player program is "mapped" to the .m3u file extension.
It's just as if you were to double-click on the .m3u file in Windows Explorer
using your mousewhichever program "owns" .m3u files will
open the playlist.
If you want to open
a playlist using a specific media player (rather than whichever one owns
.m3u files), you can do that very easily. Building on Example 1, you can
do it this way:
C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe C:\MyMusic\playlist.m3u
Example 2
C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe http://scastsrv4.shoutcast.com:8036/
Another great thing to do with macros is to launch a streaming Internet
Radio station. In this Example, we launch KPIG
radio by simply pressing a macro button. Here, we accomplish this by launching
the winamp media player, and passing the radio station's URL as a parameter.
Even cooler: you can
make a Playlist (m3u file) of Internet Radio stations! You can create
an m3u file that contains all of your favorite Internet Radio station
URLs. Then when you launch this playlist, you can choose from hundreds
of radio stations, all with your remote!
Example 3
C:\Program Files\InterVideo\WinDVD\WinDVD.exe
In this example, I make it easy to launch my favorite DVD player with
a single button-press. But note that you're not limited to launching media
player programs. You can launch any program you wish, and pass any parameters
you wish to that program.
Example 4
http://www.streamzap.com/
This example demonstrates that not only can you launch programs, but also
websites. Try launching http://www.streamzap.com/ to see an example.
Other Examples
Here are just a few more ideas of what you can do with your macros:
- Launch a PowerPoint
presentation (.ppt or .pps files) with one touch!
- Launch a slideshow
of your favorite photos!
- Start Minesweeper
while your friend is trying to write a paper...
the fun just never ends! :)
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