Why the light on the key isn't enough
Many laptops and slim keyboards have no lock lights at all, and plenty of wireless keyboards leave them out to save battery. Where there is a light, it sits under your fingers, where you cannot see it while typing.
The cost of missing it is small but constant. Caps Lock turns a correct password into a wrong one, and a few wrong tries can lock an account. On a laptop with the number pad built into the letter keys, Num Lock turns words into digits. In Excel, Scroll Lock makes the arrow keys move the sheet instead of the selected cell.
A card on the screen and a light by the clock put that information where you are already looking.
How to get a Caps Lock indicator on screen in Windows
Lock Key Notifications runs from the notification area and shows a small card each time a lock key changes. Choose the keys and the look once, and it keeps working in the background.
- Open the app and use the switch under Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock to pick which keys you are told about.
- In settings, choose where the card appears: the bottom of the screen, the top, the middle, or by the notification area.
- Choose its size and how long it stays, from half a second to ten seconds, or keep it up until the lock is turned off.
- Show it on every screen, or only on the one with the pointer.
- Turn on one notification area icon per key if you want all three states visible all the time.
A Num Lock notification that catches changes you did not make
Num Lock does not only change when you press it. A second keyboard, a remote desktop session or a program that switches Num Lock at sign-in can all flip it without a key press on the keyboard in front of you.
Lock Key Notifications watches the lock state itself rather than listening for key presses, so those changes raise the same card. You find out when it happens, not later when a row of digits appears where you expected letters.
A card that comes and goes, or lights that stay
The card is for the moment of change. It looks like the flyout Windows shows when you change the volume, fades on its own, and adds an optional sound if you would rather hear it than see it.
The notification area icons are for checking at any time. Use a single icon that lights when any key you care about is on, or one per key. On a laptop with no Scroll Lock key, click that key in the app's window to switch it.
