This Windows-based application will track the total number of words you type on your keyboard for as long as you keep it open. If you are interested in keeping track of your productivity while working across multiple documents or applications, then this tool can give you the insight you need. I developed this application for my own purposes, since I wanted to keep myself motivated while working in a particularly challenging multi-tasking phase of a project, where I needed to pursue multiple computer coding projects, scientific papers, and other writing tasks simultaneously. Setting a total word count goal for myself and watching as I achieved or fell short of my goal helped me manage my level of effort each day. This was especially helpful in the initial and middle stages of the project where each day began and ended with most documents still unfinished. Maybe as a writer, you would like to track your total word count and include the effort you spend on correspondence along with your formal projects. This application will enable you to do that, without the frequent checks to the application specific word counter in your email or word processor or other software.
When you execute the application, a small window will open displaying a number. As you type on your keyboard, this number will increase with the number of words you type. There are two buttons in the window. One button, [CLOSE], closes the application. The other button, [RESET], resets the counter to zero. The application works by sensing specific characters that divide words. These include spaces, carriage returns, hyphens, and slashes. Repeated separators will not be interpreted as separate words (e.g., you cannot cheat by typing a series of spaces and hyphens to increase your word count). Trial and error has demonstrated this is the least error prone method for counting words at least for my purposes. If typed words are deleted and then retyped they will be counted multiple times, but in terms of the rate of word generation this is appropriate. Keeping track of total words added (that is subtracting deleted words) would require an extensive logging of keystrokes, which is a significant security risk were some malware or virus able to co-opt this application. The application does not record keystrokes or store anything that you type. It only looks for the separation characters to be pressed and checks whether that character was preceeded by another separation character.
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