Why is it called Evil Macropad?

Because you can use it for nefarious purposes if you give this "gift", or a quick fix for your gambling addiction.

A 4-key macropad is nothing fancy, it needs a twist! Since it's a pretty simple project, beginners can try building one and learn a lot during the journey. The code tries to teach about the "advanced" use of macros, since many people stuck with #include.

But why evil? If you check the source, it rolls the dice with each keypress. If it's your unlucky day, it will do something else. Maybe the complete opposite? The use cases and story time.

  • Big German Engineering Company GmbH and many companies have strict policies about locking your computer. Since they use Windows, pressing the Win+L combo is the first thing you do, when you go to grab a coffee. The reason varies from company to company - it prevents  love letters to your boss, free beer email offers or having David Hasselhoff occupying your desktop background. One of my friends bought a huge plush key and programmed the combo, but what happens, if the device "forgets" to press that key combo? Sandy beach and chest hair!
  • Ctrl+S is the common combo for saving your work, pretty useful, but many people don't know. If you offer them a magical device that has a dedicated save button, they will use it. But it's a really rude move to "select all content, delete, save, and exit from the program" instead of saving!
  • It really happened - one colleague was not liked by some others and after saying goodbye from a meeting, he stayed for a short time, just to hear "Damn, I can't stand that guy." You can help creating conflicts if the mute/leave call buttons are not working 100% of the time!

Since everything is adjustable, You decide the fate!