Getting Keypress on timer

Hiya,
Just wondered, does anyone know how to get the ascii of a key press on a timer.
thanks in advance

Ascii of a keypress can be retrieved using a KeyPress event handler, not in the timer.

Do you want to get ascii of keys pressed even when your application is not in focus?

Yes, basically i have made this program ages ago which simply allows me to look at a drop down list and select a program i want to open. Unfortunately constant changing of programs means its quicker to go to the start menu. Therefore i tried to think of a better way and i wanted to know if there was a way so that when i do a certain key combination, my form which is minimized will be able to open the program i want. For example when i press ctrl + F then Flash CS4 will open etc.
Thanks in advance

Have you looked at a much simpler way of creating shortcuts in Windows and assigning a specific shortcut key to these?

Yes and there are ways but i like to try and make programs myself which can do random things just for good practice. for example i did a silly program which turned pictures into text, there was no need for it i just like to learn how.
Thanks

Post the code. It could help someone else!

For which program would you like the code??