Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, it is 100% free forever. No trials, no hidden paywalls, no "Pro" tier, and no freemium limits. Every feature is fully unlocked for everyone from day one.

There is no catch. We built this because we were tired of macro tools that nickel-and-dime users or hide key features behind paywalls. The project is sustained entirely by community support and word-of-mouth. If you want to help, just share it with someone who'd find it useful!

For most things, no - PowerX Keys works fine without admin rights. But if you notice your hotkeys or macros aren't working inside certain apps (like games or programs that run as admin themselves), that's because Windows blocks non-admin apps from sending inputs to admin-level windows.

The fix is simple: right-click PowerX Keys → Run as Administrator. That gives it permission to send inputs everywhere. If you want this to happen automatically every time, right-click the shortcut → Properties → Compatibility → check "Run as administrator."

We built a global Master Kill Switch for exactly this scenario. If a macro is taking control of your mouse, clicking things, or spamming keys, simply double-tap the Escape key.

Double-tapping Esc intercepts the keys at the system level, bypassing whatever screen is active. It immediately forces a shutdown on all running macros, tests, and recording sessions, and clears any stuck modifier keys. You don't need to struggle to close the window or unplug your keyboard.

If you see a CPU spike, it's almost always a ScreenEvent or Image Search block. Scanning your entire screen multiple times a second - especially on high-refresh-rate 144Hz+ or 4K monitors - requires taking rapid screenshots in the background, which is heavy on your system.

To fix this: drag your search scope to Custom Area or Window Area instead of Full Screen. Limiting the search box to a small 200x200 pixel area instead of a whole 3840x2160 monitor drops CPU usage to practically zero. You can also turn on Performance Mode in settings to switch the app to software rendering and turn off animations.

This usually happens for two reasons: your display scaling changed, or the colors on screen shifted slightly.

If you captured the image on one monitor or scaling setting and then run the search on a different one, the sizes won't match. For best results, always capture the image on the same screen where you'll use it. Also, adjust the tolerance slider - raise it if the search is too strict and missing targets, or lower it if it's matching the wrong things. Finally, turn on Debug Highlight in your settings - it draws a bright box on screen showing exactly where the app is searching and what it's matching, so you can see what's going wrong in real time.

When you turn on the Mobile Remote, your PC creates a small local connection. You scan the QR code with your phone, and it connects directly to your computer over your home Wi-Fi. No cloud servers, and no middlemen: your phone talks straight to your PC.

To keep it secure, the remote asks for a 4-digit PIN before letting anyone in. If someone enters the wrong PIN 3 times, they get locked out for 30 seconds. If you want to use the remote outside your home Wi-Fi, we offer a Cloudflare option, which acts as a secure private bridge between your phone and your PC, where no one else can see or store your data.

PowerX Keys uses low-level system hooks to listen for hotkeys and simulate mouse clicks and keypresses. To antivirus software, that behavior pattern looks a lot like a keylogger, so it sometimes gets flagged. This is an extremely common false positive that affects almost every automation and shortcut utility on the market.

PowerX Keys is 100% safe and clean. All input processing happens entirely on your machine, and nothing is sent anywhere. If Windows Defender or your antivirus blocks it, you can safely add the PowerX Keys installation folder to your exclusion list:

Windows Defender: Settings → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings → Exclusions → Add the folder.

Yes! From the Script Library dashboard, you can export any macro as a .pxmacro file. This bundles your entire visual macro timeline (including any associated image assets like search patterns or custom icons) into a single portable file.

Other users can import it with one click. It's a great way to share gaming routines, productivity workflows, or editor shortcuts with friends or the community.

Yes! PowerX Keys includes a Schedule Trigger feature. You can configure any macro to run at a specific time of day, on selected days of the week, or at a repeating interval (e.g., every 15 minutes).

This is perfect for daily routines, automated file backups, periodic system cleanup, or any task you want to fire-and-forget.

PowerX Keys runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (64-bit). There's no macOS or Linux version at this time.

Hardware requirements are minimal: if your PC can run Windows comfortably, it can run PowerX Keys. The app itself uses very little memory and CPU while idle. The only time resource usage increases is when using Image Search or ScreenEvent features at full-screen scope.

PowerX Keys registers hotkeys at the system level, so it intercepts them before most other apps see them. If you assign a hotkey that another program also uses, PowerX Keys will typically "win" and the other app won't receive it.

If you run into a conflict, simply pick a different hotkey combination. Multi-key combinations (like Ctrl+Shift+F9) are highly recommended because they are rarely used by other apps.