JB's End Rant and RADAR studio review in this issue inspired me to share with you a few of the software utilities I install whenever I set up a new Windows computer.
If you're a DAW user moving between OS platforms, muscle-memory might lead you to type the wrong keyboard shortcuts. Thankfully, there are many remapping tools available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. On Windows, I've been using KeyTweak by Travis Krumsick (a free download from www.bleepingcomputer.com and other sources) for as long as I can remember. I use it to swap Caps Lock and Left Ctrl, but you could also use it to swap Ctrl, Alt, and Windows keys to make a Windows keyboard work more like a Mac one. (Likewise, if you have an actual Mac keyboard connected to your PC, you could remap accordingly.)
KeyTweak writes your mapping to the Windows Registry, so once you've saved your mapping, you can quit (or even delete) the program, reboot the computer, and your mapping will be live. This approach means that KeyTweak is limited to modifying the global keyboard layout; therefore, if you want to do things like fire off macros or handle combined keystrokes, you'll need a different program that runs as a background service, intercepting and reprocessing your inputs. For that, I use AutoHotKey www.autohotkey.com, a free macro creator/handler for Windows. The system relies on scripts, so any keystrokes, mouse buttons, or combinations thereof — or even sequences of text — can trigger scripted actions. You can even do complex things, like receive input, then analyze which window is active, and launch commands specific to that window. On macOS, I use Karabiner www.pqrs.org to remap keys and shortcuts.