Thanks for all the replies folks!
LarryD, I should have included some Visine in my initial post - sorry!
Pert, Excellent post - I'm on it boss - step 1 is where I'll need help, maybe not, but I appreciate your steps & the links at the bottom - I think you've given exactly what I need.
Alexmonro, sure run from a command line, or I probably should take "BounceVips.bat" out of c:\ root and place somewhere within the path like c:\windows\system32. Some of your lingo is over my head, but I do plan on attaching the Pro Micro inside the PC living inside the scan station housing the PC - I was thinking about placing it inside a small .... small sunglass case zip tied inside the PC??, I need to solder the 2 switch wires "A1" and ground. O, O, I love your idea of placing a timeout in there for the button press happy folks that will undoubtedly press it repeatedly = EXCELLENT suggestion.
Hydrocontrol,
No.
3 feet.
Target PCs are Mainly Win7Pro, however I have some XPPro boxes still working scan stations, and a hand full of Win10Pro boxes.
Serial data?, my XP boxes have serial ports, but I'm hoping to interface thru a simple USB port, but if I can serial data thru a USB port, then yes, I can serial data to the arduino/ProMicro/small circuit board.
The button will be placed outside the vehicle on the permanent earth mounted scan station, but with-in an arm's length reach outside the driver's door window to the scanning enclosure mounted on the side of the scan station where associates/drivers normally will scan the Vin17 barcode by placing the barcode under the scan beam, I'll place the button right or left of the barcode entry slot. The button will be about 2-3 feet from the PC inside the cabinet. The scanning enclosure is attached to the side of the PC cabinet - I will look into posting a picture on your forum, if possible so as they say a picture is "worth a 1000 words" Yes the target PC is running Win7, however I still have some scan station out there running XP, and I have a few running Win10 - all Pro.
LarryD, Thanks for the links!
Ok folks, time for bed - I'll look at the links early this week.