Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.

Despite the mixed signals that Apple keeps sending on the subject, scripting is alive and well on the Mac, as users from all walks of life use it to automate all sorts of tasks. Scenario 1.61 (Mac App Store link) kicks things up a notch by allowing you to automatically execute a script when a given system event occurs. For example, you can trigger an AppleScript execution at login, logout, or even when a particular key combination is pressed.

The app, which sits quietly in the Menu until called upon, is easy to configure and use, with a simple setting panel that lets you determine which scripts are executed in response to each of the available events.

In a very nice touch, you can also enable and disable all actions by flipping a single radio button—and activating them also causes Scenario to re-launch automatically at login.

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