ModLock

About | Installation | Freeware
Screenshots | Changelog | Feedback

Download the latest version here
Significant upgrade, see Changelog

(Version 0.8.0 – Zipped Windows Executable – 55kb)
Important: Make sure you disable “Run automatically at startup” before upgrading if you are using version 0.3 or 0.4.

About

Modlock is a tiny windows application designed to make the use of modifer keys such as Alt and Control a lot easier when using a tablet PC, as needed when using software such as Adobe Photoshop.  When using tools such as the clone tool or the lasso in Photoshop, you often need to press and hold the Alt, Ctrl, Shift or Space keys while you use the tool to modifiy the way in which the tool behaves.  Whilst this is a simple task on a regular PC, it can be quite troublesome when using a tablet PC where you have no access to the keyboard.

Not wanting to use the standard on screen keyboard and lose so much screen real estate, and unhappy with the other applications designed to give access to these keys, I set about writing ModLock to suit the requirements I had for such an application.  After input and feedback from a few forums new features such as auto-release have been added to make the application more user friendly. See the changelog for a full list of features.

Installation

It couldnt be easier, just save the file somewhere on your hard drive and run it. The code for auto starting with windows will detect where you have saved it once you tick the box in options.

Freeware

ModLock is released as freeware and as such you are welcome to download it and use it on as many computers as you wish without any need for purchase or licensing.  I would however ask that if you decide to provide the file for download on your own site, that you provide a courtesy link back to this page.

A few people have mentioned that I should setup a donation button for this, but as I’ve already said my intention was to provide this software completely free. I wrote it to scratch an itch, solve a problem I had and then released it to try and help others who I knew would be having the same problem.  I’m more than happy to continue without a donations button, but if you would like to donate something for the use of the software then please make your donation to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, a worthy charity raising money for the Newcastle Hospital NHS charity.

Screenshots

The main window of ModLock:

The options panel of ModLock

Changelog:

Version 0.8.0

  • Added much requested ability for custom keys to have Alt / Ctrl / Shift modifiers (See screenshot ^ )

Version 0.7.2

  • Bug fix in code for using F1, F2 etc. as custom keys.

Version 0.7.0

  • Bug fix in vertical button bar code
  • Update system modified to allow minor revision numbers

Version 0.6

  • Removed notification message box when minimizing.
  • Removed title bar to save on space.
  • Added option for vertical button bar
  • Added option for double sized button bar
  • Added help screen

Version 0.5

  • Added option for up to 4 extra customisable buttons
  • Added ability to check for updates manually or automatically
  • Filename name back to modlock.exe to prevent problems updating
  • Added double click support to tray icon

Version 0.4

  • Fixed bug where all auto-delay timers were linked to Alt timer.

Version 0.3

  • Added transparency support
  • Added auto run on startup option
  • Added minimize to tray functionality

Version 0.2

  • Prevented ModLock from stealing focus from current application
  • Added support for space bar
  • Added auto-release feature with customisable delay
  • Added right click to lock on modifier and ignore auto-release delay
  • Added buttons highlighting in red for noticability
  • Added remembering of location between sessions

Version 0.1

  • Initial release, ability to lock Alt, Control and Shift with ModLock

Feedback

Comments and suggestions are always welcome, so please if you have an idea how ModLock can be improved then please get in touch via the comments box at the bottom of this page, or by sending a mail to modlock@shepy.co.uk

  • #1 written by Sherbople
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Looks like a really good idea – simple, nice and small. I’ve only just ordered my tablet, and this software fixes one of the problems that I had anticipated when I was going to use flash/PS/etc. I’ll have to play with the settings and find the best way to use it. Anyways, thanks for making my life easier

  • #2 written by FlameStream
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    First of all. Very thoughtful of you to think about creating this software. I’m thinking of adopting it but there is one little thing that bothers me when using it. Saves a few bucks to buy one of those nifty keypads to accompany the tablet PC.

    However, most of the time, the modifier keys are used with a single key/click and it’s released, never to be chained with another input (with the exception of the spacebar key with huge pictures). For example, when I want to rotate the canvas using alt + space or change my brush size using ctrl + alt, I find myself having to toggle those buttons back to release them. Would it be possible to make the activated modifier keys release after an keyup or mouseup event? That would make the software perfect in my eyes.

  • #3 written by Matias
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    I been serching for this solution for years! Thank you!

  • #4 written by pechorin
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    this is great, the perfect solution, thank you!

    do you still support this project? it wold be nice a vertical configuration and the option to increase a little the size.

  • #5 written by Shepy
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    pechorin,

    The two changes you have requested have been added.

    ~Shepy

  • #6 written by pechorin
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    wow, thats amazing!

    thank you so much :)

  • #7 written by Sothis
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Thanks, Shepy, for keeping up the work on this. It’s great. I have noticed a problem with assigning “function” keys to the buttons:
    F1 to F6 – the buttons show Usr1 to Usr6, result is always CTRL-H ; F7 to F12 -the buttons show and act like F1 to F6 .

  • #8 written by Shepy
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Sothis,

    I have now corrected that bug and release version 0.7.2 which should have the F keys working correctly, thanks for letting me know.

    Cheers

    ~Shepy

  • #9 written by Sothis
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Thanks, Shepy!

  • #10 written by Alex
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Thanks for really useful program.
    what about making double click mode (like in Word for some buttons): if click once – button will release after … sec.; dubclick (or right button) – stick mode.

  • #11 written by Shepy
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Alex,

    The functionality you want was already present in Modlock.

    If you click once, and have timers set in the options, then the button will release after that amount of time.

    If you right click the button then that button will lock on till you click it again.

    Cheers

    ~Shepy

  • #12 written by Josean
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    It is a very ussefull utility.
    At last, I can use babylon comfortably in my Tablet PC.
    But I have a little problem: I have just installed modlock in Windows Vista Home Premium. It works fine. However, when I push the option button, the following error is shown: “Runtime error 339. Component ‘MSCOMCTL.OCX’ or one of its dependencies not correctly registered. A file is missing or invalid. So I cannot configure modlock. The rest of funcionality works ok.
    Regards,
    Josean

  • #13 written by Shepy
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    You seem to have a corrupted Visual Basic Runtimes Josen.

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=25437d98-51d0-41c1-bb14-64662f5f62fe&displaylang=en

    If you re-install that you should be able to use ModLock correctly.

    Cheers

    ~Shepy

  • #14 written by Anestis
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Very useful exactly what I wanted. Is it possible to have an extra check-box, in order the button to be relished after the first click on the screen instead the timer?

  • #15 written by Shepy
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    Unfortunately not Anetis, that would require monitoring all system wide mouse events, which could get quite unnecessarily resource intensive.

    ~Shepy

  • #16 written by pechorin
    about 3 years ago
    Quote

    hi! still using and loving your little program

    i comment a pair of things, just in case you are bored :)

    1. when you move the bar, sometimes you cant see it until you release the button. i am not sure when it happens, i think after selecting the bar the second time

    2. would it be very difficult to add a snap option to edges and the taskbar?

    thank you!!

    btw, why \alt, ctrl, shift\ and not \ctrl, alt, shift\?

  • #17 written by CioN
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Great job!!

    The customisable buttons are a big help to work.

    Only one suggestion, why can’t hide the others buttons, for example shift. This option would make modlock more customisable

  • #18 written by Serge
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Shepy, thanks a lot for the cool app!
    Great idea, definitely “must have” for every tablet pc user, this is (almost) exactly what I was looking for since I bought the tablet PC.
    Do you still support this project? There is one more wish, if possible:

    The same as Josean, I want to use Babylon without a keyboard. Your tool is indispensable for it, but I think it would be super cool if a temporary modifier could be assigned to a double-click of side button of a stylus.
    It seems, all pens for today active digitizers have eraser and side button serving as a right mouse button. When I click this button on my stylus, the OS detects it even if I don’t touch the screen (the mouse pointer changes). How do you think, it is possible to assign a modifier to such an action?

    Cheers!
    Serge.

  • #19 written by Shepy
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    pechorin:

    1) Not quite sure why that is, ill look into it for the next release.
    2) Sounds like a good idea, i’ll see what i can do :)
    3) Alphabetical order, why do you pick ctrl/alt/shift? :P

    CioN:

    Its main function is the those primary buttons, making these hidable as well would mean a major revamp of the resizing / hiding code, which i just dont have the time to do. It was never really about customisation, it was about providing pen access to a few buttons.

    Serge: I’m afraid that it something you would need to check in your pen drivers. I can happily code in an API call or a run option that presses a button if called from the drivers, if your pen drivers allow for execution of arbitrary code etc on press?

    ~Shepy

  • #20 written by pechorin
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    i think it is just the standard way… order in the keyboard or something. nevermind anyway :)

    it is great you are so close to users, we love your applicaion, thank you!

  • #21 written by Thomas Pope
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    What a wonderful little application!

    The only thing I would like to see is the ability to add things like Ctrl-Z to the custom buttons list.

    Even so, this is incredibly helpful for Photoshop and Illustrator. Thank you!

  • #22 written by Jon
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Great little tool for tablet users, I’ve been looking for something similar for a while now. So, what’s the chance of allowing each button to trigger two or three keys, as what I really, really want is a button to press Ctl-Z and Ctl-Shift-Z, that is, undo and redo?
    How’s about it? That would be the perfect tablet tool!

  • #23 written by Tim
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    I would also like the ability to bind the additional keys to key combos. Great tool, thanks!

  • #24 written by Andario
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Hi Shepy, thanks a lot for the software.

    Unfortunately, I too have the same problem as the guy a few posts above, the auto-release never works for me. It’s weird, because it only let me use 0 or 0.5, and no other number (neither using the arrows or typing in it), and the auto-release never works. A real pain, since I always forget to turn it off each and every time I press a key.

    I´m using an original XP Tablet, US version, and no resident antivirus. (If that helps, I noticed that the other guy who had the auto-release problem was in Spain as I am, not sure if it may have something to do with language settings??)

    Thanks mate.

  • #25 written by Andario
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Forgot to say that perhaps an older version might work for me, is it possible to get one of those?

  • #26 written by pshop
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    hello. awesome tool. just one request, is it possible to add brakets to the additional keys?

  • #27 written by pshop
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    square [] brackets specifically, they are photoshop brush resize shortcut keys.

  • #28 written by Lasphere
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Hey mighy-creator-of-this-pieceofart-software!

    I was wondering if I could come with a request for and useful addition to modlock. If would be nice if it was possible to set key like: alt+f4, and alt-t and so on. You know, customizable keys.

    i could really use windowsbutton-t.

  • #29 written by Juan carlos
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Hi shepy, thank’s for the software, cool work.

    Unfortunately I have the same problem that Andario have, I use mor or less the same configuration that him, I am also from Spain.
    Well if you know how to fix it, or if you want that I try same thing, please put it in the post.

    Anyway, thank’s a lot for the program, I love it.

  • #30 written by Taliesin
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Hi shepy. Another one from Spainh the same problem about autorelease. I have seen this error under Vista and now under W7 RC. Maybe language settings?

  • #31 written by brotivore
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    seems the problems above are linked to language config issues involving the decimal separator (dot in Us, coma in EU). fix by changing this specific language setting concerning numbers in windows

  • #32 written by frogy222
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    i have bean a uxb for over 40 years,donot do reports, i need someone todo a good report on never coverd site in sunderland.no idiots please, must have sone reports on northeast urbx please e-maile me.

  • #33 written by Mark Oakley
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    This is a sweet little tool.

    Two things:

    1. Using Photoshop; Have tied one of the extra keys to a function key, then programmed a simple “undo” macro (ctrl+alt+z). Works fine, except pressure sensitivity vanishes for the first nib-to-screen touch. It returns again on the next touch. I’m using a system with the Wacom penabled driver.

    2. If you add a donations button, I would love to send some money your way to pay for your time in creating such a useful tool. I’m sure many of us would.

    Thanks!

  • #34 written by Shepy
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Mark,

    The problem you are having is that you are calling the maco, which is not passing focus back to the window. Are you using AutoHotKey or similar for the macro? Whatever macro software you are using, you need it to pass focus back to photoshop after it is finished and that should solve it. I’m a bit short of time at the moment through various projects, but I shall see about the capability of adding in modifier keys / multiple keys on the buttons, so one click can send ctrl + alt + z, etc.

    As for the donations button, i have added a wee bit about donations to the freeware section at the top of this page.

    Cheers

    ~Shepy

  • #35 written by Mark Oakley
    about 2 years ago
    Quote

    Thanks for the reply, Shepy!

    I see what you’re saying. The macro I’m using for ctrl+alt+z is set up in Photoshop’s programmable “Actions” system whereby one can program the “F” keys to trigger a series of Photoshop commands. But I see what you’re saying. It’s a bit of a puzzle; pressure sensitivity in Photoshop is enabled by Wacom’s Tablet PC driver, and presumably it doesn’t engage until it registers that focus has been returned to Photoshop. I’ve been trying to think of a way to tack on another task to the series of commands in the macro which will make Wacom say, “Ah! Hello pen tip! Yes, you need pressure sensitivity, don’t you. . ?” but my experiments haven’t been successful. –I tried adding tool changes to the macro stream, switching from brush to selection tools and back again, but it doesn’t make a difference. Unfortunately, the response qualities of the nib which can be adjusted through Photoshop menus cannot be included in automated macros. So I’m coming up empty.

    Anyway, thanks for your attention. Happy holidays!

    -Mark

  • #36 written by thierry
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Thanks, for your useful tool. I am in a French release of Seven. I activated auto release. Now I am no more able to enter options. Where are stored the options, to change them manually or remove the weird configuration file?

  • #37 written by Shepy
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Thierry,

    The settings are saved in the registry. You should be able to bring up the options by clicking the options button on modlock, or right clicking the tray icon and selecting options.

    If you would like to reset all configuration to defaults, you can download this registry file:

    http://www.shepy.co.uk/modlock/modlock_reset.reg

    And that should restore everything to default.

    Cheers

    ~Shepy

  • #38 written by thierry
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Thank you. Solved.

  • #39 written by Jason
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Thanks for this great software, Shepy!

  • #40 written by Greenlaw
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Shepy,

    I got my first tablet PC a few months ago with the intention of using it to create storyboards and concept art at work, and modLock has made the tablet PC far more useful and practical for me. Thanks for making this great tool!

    Greenlaw
    Partner | Little Green Dog | http://www.littlegreendog.com
    Senior Digital Artist | Rhythm & Hues Studios | http://www.rhythm.com

  • #41 written by HZ
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    YES! This is a software that addresses such a important need of tablet artists, yet it’s totally ignored by the actual manufacturers! It is mind boggling @_@’

    So THANK YOU VERY MUCH SHEPY!!

    Also, like wat a lot has mentioned above, if you can map multiple keys to one button, this software will be perfect! I am seriously waiting in anticipation for this! Pls let me get rid of my stupid numpad!

  • #42 written by Shepy
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Modlock now updated to allow Shift / Alt / Ctrl along with the additional customisable keys.

    ~Shepy

  • #43 written by atw2
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Does it work with Windows Seven 32bits?
    Each time I click on OPT I have the error “Runtime error 339. Component ‘MSCOMCTL.OCX’ or one of its dependencies not correctly registered. A file is missing or invalid”. Installing MVB 6.0 or installing MSCOMCTL.OCX alone isn’t helpfull at all with Seven

  • #44 written by atw2
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    I find a solution, it’s OK if I run this program in Windows XP compatibility mode

  • #45 written by Canderled
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    i have the same probleme as atw2. i’m using modlock on a touchsmart tm2 with win 7 x64 premium(french). but the XP compatibility didn’t solve it.
    any other idea?

  • #46 written by sparky04cr
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    Windows 7 x64 and MSCOMCTL.OCX error -

    Fix I have found:
    Get a copy of the ‘MSCOMCTL.OCX’ file and put it into ‘Windows\SysWOW64′ directory. The one from an XP machine works fine.
    Register the file – Start ‘command prompt’ session as ‘administrator’ – browse to the \Windows\SysWOW64 directory – and type ‘regsvr32 mscomctl.ocx’ at the prompt. You should get a pop-up windows stating that the file was registered.
    Run the ‘Modlock’ again. Should run fine, at least it worked for myself.

    My issue:
    When using ‘vertical’ or ‘double sized’ settings – any custom key combination set will not use a selected ‘shift /alt /ctrl’ key combination. All that shows and gets used is the key itself. The program works fine in ‘horizontal/normal’ settings. I have tried this on XP and Windows 7 x64 platforms.

  • #47 written by yinyin
    about 1 year ago
    Quote

    the windows key as a modifier would be great

  • #48 written by Greenlaw
    about 9 months ago
    Quote

    The hard drive in my Tablet PC died last week and I’ve had to rebuild my system. When I reinstalled Modlock, I got the MSCOMCTL.OCX error when clicking the Opt button.

    My solution was to download the file from here:

    http://www.ocxdump.com/download-ocx-files_new.php/ocxfiles/M/MSCOMCTL.OCX/6.01.9782/download.html

    …and after getting the file, I simply place it in my Modlock directory (where the Modlock.exe is located.) Clicking the Opt button works fine now, so it is not necessary to install the file in the Windows directory.

  • #49 written by Luis
    about 7 months ago
    Quote

    I too am having an issue with the pen enabled sensitivity. Essentially after using a modlock button, I lose pen sensitivity on the first stroke. I found a few things that might be helpful:

    1, I can right-click so that it becomes my first stroke and sensitivity is back (a bit annoying but better than having a giant splotch at 100%)
    2. The timer-based deactivation of alt, ctrl, shift and space doesn’t have this issue (which is what i have set to now that I know it helps). Is there something in the code that is happening with timer feature that is inadvertedly fixing that? Maybe it could be used for the other buttons and modes?

    Btw, I love this tool. It’s extremely useful.

  • #50 written by CWB
    about 5 months ago
    Quote

    Terrific program … you can’t imagine how long I’ve wanted this … well, maybe you can. Three minor annoyances:
    1. (Same issue as sparky04cr) Custom key modifiers not sent when buttons double sized.
    2. “Check for update” always reports “update available”.
    3. Option dialog opens too low and to the right. In landscape, the bottom row of buttons is covered by the task bar; in portrait the right edge is off screen. (Windows Vista, 1280×800, single height taskbar at the bottom of the screen.

    But these are truly minor! Thanks again!