Slow Switching, No Hotkeys...

A KVM is supposed to make using two or more computers from a single keyboard and mouse simple and painless. Unfortunately this KVM switch utterly fails to deliver in two basic respects:

- No hotkeys. Most KVM switches allow you to switch computers easily using a special keyboard sequence, e.g. tapping scroll lock twice. This one doesn't, so either you have to root around in your cables and hit the manual changeover switch on the unit, or you have to run a piece of software that puts an icon on your desktop, that you can click to initiate the switch. Neither of these methods comes close to the ease of use offered by a hotkey sequence. The software switch in particular is poorly thought out - you have to restart the switching program manually if you reboot the computer, and you have to be logged in and viewing the screen to use it. By default, windows takes you back to the login screen after a few minutes of inactivity, so in order to switch from this state, you have to log in, find the icon and click it to switch. And if your computer has crashed, forget about it.

- Very slow transition. Most KVMs I've used are instant. You switch, and can use the keyboard / mouse on the other computer immediately. Not so the Belkin! After switching, it takes a good 5-10 seconds for the mouse / keyboard to be detected. And that's using the manual switch on the unit. The software switch is even slower for some reason, taking anything up to about 30 seconds to switch over. This is incredibly frustrating!

I have used many KVM switches over the years, both USB and PS/2 models, and none of them come close to equaling the Belkin unit's lack of ease of use...

So, save yourself a lot of trouble and do what I eventually did: buy IOGear's infinitely better designed and similarly priced KVM switch instead.