We've had a discussion about typing extended characters in Xara X, because some of our friend had problems...

I've been used to Windows 2000 Pro, where I could - on my laptop - press the function key (fn) plus ALT plus four digits on the integrated Num Pad to type an extended character. Example:
On a desktop: ALT + 0183 on the Num Pad generated the middot · , ALT + 0149 the bullet •

However, with my new laptop that came with Windows XP Professional, this trick doesn't work anymore.

Because I use the middot and bullet as well as the Spanish ñ very often, I searched for a nice macro utility - a free one of course. Here is what I've found:

http://www.shortkeys.com/lite.htm

Limited to 35 macros / shortcuts in the free version, it comes in very handy for extended characters.

For example I've assigned the sequence -.- to generate the middot, ..- to generate the bullet character. It works! Just make sure you assign a very unusual shortkey, that means nothing that might be misinterpreted as normal shortcuts or text.

Maybe this little utility is something for your tasks as well?