Thanks for the reply. Like GetKeyState(), I think GetAsyncKeyState() just tells me about a single key. I would prefer a single function call that tells me whether any modifier has been pressed, thus saving several system calls in the hook context.

Is there a WIN32 function that will tell me whether any modifier key is pressed? The context is a mouse hook function that is only interested if one or more modifier keys (shift, ctrl, alt) is pressed. If no key is pressed it just passes the event to the next hook. I know that GetKeyState() returns the state of a specified virtual key, and that GetKeyboardState() returns an array of states. But a function that just tells me if ANY modifier key is pressed would add less latency in cases (most of the time) when a key is not pressed. Thanks for listening :-)

Thanks for your reply. You are right, messages really are received on title bars. I needed to test for the Non-Client messages, WM_NCRBUTTONDOWN, as well as for WM_RBUTTONDOWN. This also fixes it for the menu bars of Calculator/Paint. But the Command/MSDOS window still somehow captures messages - I see none of them, even for the title bar. How does it do this (ie. which API)? Does this mean that keyloggers also cannot intercept text typed into the Command window? This would imply that an application should grab the keyboard events directly (as in Command) to avoid snooping, eg during password entry. Regards -- Goop

Mmm, I thought I had :-) It seems that the Command/MSDOS window is capturing mouse movements before my application. As my application was started from that window, I assumed that my app would be earlier in the hook list and therefore receive messages first. But the app does not see the mouse movements for the Command window. I guess the problem goes deeper, because I want to see ALL mouse movements, wherever my hook is in the hooks list. So I guess I need to get the messages before any hook functions. Hope that is clearer :-) Regards -- Goop

I wrote a simple app that hooks WH_MOUSE events. The application receives a stream of events when the mouse is moved over most windows. However it does not get any events from: - the Command (MSDOS) application - the menu bar of old (16-bit?) applications such as Calculator or Paint. - the title bar of all apps How can catch mouse messages in these cases? -- Goop