Software Supporting Compose Key
Compose keys are most popular on Linux and other systems using the X Window System. On modern Xorg the default setup maps first pressing ⇧ Shift and then pressing AltGr while ⇧ Shift is still depressed to the compose key, but pressing AltGr first followed by ⇧ Shift to the fourth "keyboard level" modifier (the first three levels correspond to holding no modifiers, ⇧ Shift, and AltGr respectively.) So for example the copyright symbol, © can be typed using the compose key as ⇧ Shift+AltGr, o, c, or using the level four modifier as AltGr+⇧ Shift+c. As this is rather inconvenient (especially if the keyboard does not have AltGr) it is common to select a keyboard layout making another key such as the right-hand Ctrl into the compose key.
On Microsoft Windows a few programs such as PuTTY provide compose key support. There are also a number of open source utilities (such as AllChars) and installable keyboard layouts (such as this one) available that emulate the compose key using a selectable modifier key like Control or AltGr.
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