I’m addicted to the AutoCorrect feature in Word–I use it to both fix common misspellings and to shorten long phrases. For example, if hold they Shift key down too long and type “VIsta”, Word will automatically fix it for me by changing the second letter to lowercase: “Vista”. Similarly, I can add custom AutoCorrect entries to allow me to type long, common phrases with just a couple of letters. For example, I can type “WV” and Word will automatically replace it with “Windows Vista”. This is helpful if you’re a good typist, but if you’re a bad typist, this can be a godsend.
Here’s the problem: I don’t always write in Word. Right now, I’m typing in a browser window, which doesn’t have AutoCorrect. Here’s the answer: Type Access.

Type Access is the autoreplace feature that should have been built into Windows. When it’s enabled, it’ll work with any application. And, it works in Windows Vista and earlier versions of Windows.

It’s good, and I’m using it right now, but it’s not without its drawbacks (especially when compared to AutoComplete it Word):

• It’s not integrated into your spell checkers
• It won’t automatically detect common typos, such as holding down the Shift key too long and capitalizing the first two letters of a word
• It comes with a couple of dozen phrases built-in, but none of the common ones you’d expect, such as: (c), ™, (r), or commonly mistyped/mispelled words.

Of course, you can add your own phrases, but I’d really need to add thousands of phrases to make it as helpful as AutoComplete built into Word.

If you know of a similar app that you prefer, please add a comment.