It happens even to the most experienced of users: the accidental keyboard shortcuts. No matter how often you use your computer, weird things can start happening when you’re going too fast, when you lean on your keyboard, and of course, when you’re cat or child decide it’s party time, and your keyboard is a dance floor/drum set. Very experienced users know how to fix each and every problem, but many of us sometime encounter a weird problem we’re not sure how to fix, mainly because we’re not sure how it happened.
Has your cat ever walked on your keyboard just for a second, causing the entire display to flip on its side? Have you ever tried typing your password over and over again, getting an error even when you were sure you’re doing it right? Have you ever tried changing your keyboard language, and managed to close the entire program you were working on by mistake? If one of these things or something similar ever happened to you or someone you know, this guide is for you.
Bookmark, save, and share with friends. Next time you’ll know what to do, and more importantly, how it happened!
My Display Is Flipped!
If this never ever happened to you or to anyone you know, raise your hand now. I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t encountered this weird problem at least once. While it’s very easy to do by mistake, especially for cats and children, it’s not always easy to remember how to fix it. So how does this happen? Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Keys. When you hit this combination, no matter which arrow, your display will flip in the direction of the arrow you used. It’s pretty simple, but very disturbing when it happens by mistake.
So how do I fix it? Ctrl+Alt+”Up Arrow” will do the trick, and will restore your display to the right orientation.
This Thing Keeps Saying My Password Is Wrong!
This one is very common, and probably the easiest one to recognize, but this list wouldn’t be complete without it. Yes, it’s the notorious CAPS LOCK, especially when trying to type in a password. Why do we need this key on the keyboard, I will never understand. Not only is it ever-present, it’s also huge, and right above the shift button. A mistake waiting to happen if I ever saw one.
When you accidently hit caps lock when just typing, it’s not so bad. When you’re typing a hidden password, though, it can turn into a disaster. I once had myself locked out of an account on a website after getting my password wrong too many times. The darn caps lock was on, and it took me way too much time to realize what was going on.
So how do I fix it? If you get your password wrong twice in a row, CHECK THE CAPS LOCK. It’s probably on.
My Num Pad Stopped Typing Numbers!
These days, most keyboard include a number pad, even on laptops. And where there’s a num pad (and even where there isn’t, really), there’s a Num Lock button. If you’ve ever tried to use your num pad and ended up scrolling as if you were using arrows, you’ve probably turned your num lock off. The num lock button, while it’s on, makes sure your num pad outputs numbers. When it’s off, the num pad keys turn to arrows, and you’re not getting any numbers. Since it’s mostly useless, it’s very easy to hit by mistake.
So how do I fix it? This is a no brainer: Make sure your num lock is on, if you want to type numbers. Note that on some laptops, you need to use the Fn key in order to toggle num lock. When this is done by mistake, it’s even more difficult to discover what’s happened!
My Display Keeps Changing Size!
Have you ever innocently scrolled a page, only to have it become huge or tiny within seconds? This rather amusing effect is usually caused by the Ctrl key being pressed, or even stuck, while using the mouse’s scroll wheel. When you hit Ctrl and scroll, you’re actually zooming in and out of the page (very useful to know, if you haven’t been using it). You can achieve the same effect by pressing ctrl and the plus or minus buttons, whether intentionally or not.
So how do I fix it? If you’re zooming in and out and didn’t mean to do this, check your ctrl key. If you’re not actively pressing it, tap it a few times to make sure it’s not stuck, or read “Everything Has Gone Insane!!!!” further down this post.
The Arrow Keys Scroll My Entire Excel Spreadsheet!
OK, I’ll admit this one is rare, but when it does happen, it’s really annoying. Have you ever worked on an Excel spreadsheet (or some of the other rare programs that are actually affected by this), and suddenly found that the arrow keys scroll the entire spreadsheet instead of moving between cells? Something so simple, and yet it can drive a person insane when trying to get some work done. The solution to this mystery is simple: the Scroll Lock key.
Already absent from many keyboards, this key is a relic from of times past, and doesn’t really affect most of today’s software. It does, however, work in Microsoft Excel, and several other text editors. It’s function is to turn your arrow keys into scroll keys, instead of have them move the cursor.
So how do you fix it? Well, this one is simple. Turn off scroll lock!
I’m Trying To Change Language, & Weird Things Keep Happening!
Ah, my favorite mistake, and the one that keep happening to me over and over again. If you only use an English keyboard, you’ve probably never encountered this, but anyone who had to switch between languages or layout probably knows this. Sometimes you’re trying to switch languages by pressing Alt+Shift, and when you resume typing in the other language, all sort of crazy things start happening. What’s going on?
What’s happening is that for some reason, the keyboard didn’t catch the “shift” part of the shortcut, and only took the “alt” into account. In many programs, hitting alt is the same as opening the menus on top. When you hit alt and then a combination of letters, you can activate pretty much every function in the menu, using only the keyboard. Very useful when you actually want to do this, but not so when you only want to switch languages. I can’t count the number of times I managed to close the entire window, when I was only trying to switch languages.
(I’m not even going to go into the “typing in the wrong language” problem. I can write a whole post about this one.)
So how do I fix it? Stop for a second after hitting alt+shift; do you see the letters highlighted on the menu as seen in the screenshot? Don’t go any further. Hit escape, and then alt+shift again, this time with intention!
Everything Has Gone Insane!!!!
You’re trying to type, and weird things keep happening. Capital letters come out of nowhere, your text is randomly highlighted or disappears, and your windows keep minimizing for no apparent reason. If you’re really in trouble, you may even lock your entire computer without meaning to. And the thing keeps beeping! What’s going on?
Yes, the infamous sticky keys. While these could be very convenient for people who have trouble holding two keys at the same time, it’s nothing but a nuisance to anyone else. And the worse thing: they can be activated by mistake. Sticky keys make it so you don’t have to hold the shift, ctrl, alt and Win keys in order to activate their special functions. You can hit shift, let it go, and then hit a letter. You will get a capital latter.
How do you activate it? Usually by tapping on the shift button five times in a row. When you do that, a beep sounds, and the above dialog box appears. If you’re not paying attention, you might just hit yes without realizing, it is the default answer after all, and you’re stuck with sticky keys.
So how do I fix it? If you’ve managed to activate sticky keys by mistake, tapping five times on the shift button will turn them off. You won’t see a notice about it, but you’ll hear four beeps, and then a distinctive downwards beep. Sticky keys are now off!
Conclusion
These are most likely not the only annoying keys people hit by mistake. When writing this post, I was trying to include the most common keyboard mistakes I could think of, especially those that keep happening to me. Not being a newbie, I’m aware that if something happens to me, it can sure happen to people who don’t use a computer for their livelihood.
Is there an annoying keyboard shortcut I forgot to mention? Does something like this keep happening to you? Tell us your stories, and of course, how to fix it!
Image credits: man hitting computer image via Shutterstock, num pad image via Shutterstock
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Thank you for this page. I've been going crazy the last couple of hours because of the Fn (function key) on my laptop. Normally, I use this in conjunction with the ALT key in order to access special punctuation, accented characters, symbols and the like. Tonight, it started acting strangely. I couldn't get the Em dash I wanted, instead all I could do was to change the keyboard from typing digits (as in num lock on) back to typing letters, but I couldn't get the Fn + ALT combination to work. After reading your article, I guessed the problem might be with the scroll lock and num lock keys, which, on my HP laptop, are (in)conveniently located on the same physical key and right next to the pause key which I use a lot when playing computer games. Somehow I managed to change BOTH the scroll lock and num lock settings at one so that I couldn't get the Fn number pad to work like it should. By drawing attention to problems with both the num lock and scroll lock, you lead me to the problem and, after a little experimentation the solution by implementing the correct combination of scroll and num lock. I probably changed the setting inadvertently while repeatedly pausing a game with the adjacent pause key. :/ Thanks again.
Also the tip about the keyboard language, too: I find that my keyboard language sometimes seems to change spontaneously, so I must be making a variation of the ALT+SHIFT error you reference. In my case I must be hitting ALT+SHIFT by accident when trying to do something else, and thereby changing the language on the keyboard. I usually discover this by typing a "?" and getting a "É", instead.
I had obviously hit the sticky keys combo but didn't know it. Every time I pressed a key there was a tapping in the lamp across the room and no letters would show up on monitor. I finally looked at the task bar icons and there was the note that the sticky keys were on. So I just clicked that and turned it off. But it was really weird that every time I punched a key the lamp would click or tap and my keyboard and mouse are both wireless.
Don't forget CTRL-Shift, it's a pain in the ass like nothing else..
I was watching a show on a website ive been using for a couple days (long show) when I woke up today and went back to it and hit "next" instead of going to the page with the next episode, it auto downloaded the website. I had to click open on the download to load the next page. I opened a new tab and was about to search for answers when I noticed my keyboard wasn't being recognized by the search bar and was instead opening all sorts of menu's. I restarted my laptop and it seemed to fix it, I think. My keyboard is being recognized.
instead of a url I was seeing a file destination from the download and regular webpages wouldn't open when clicked on. I am still confused. would like to know how to fix this if it happens again.
Thank you so much the shift key 5 times fixed my problem. I wished I'd found this article before doing system restores, and uninstalling and reinstalling keyboard device drivers.
My cat stomped on my keyboard and turned al the apps from the start menu as very large icons and all my usual desktop shortcuts vanished. The solution was to click on the notifications icon next to the clock and turn tablet mode off. Clever moggy had me stumped for ages which is how I came to find this web page. Fantastic and thank you for a great job!
I would like to know what key it is that I accidently touch and everything I've written gets wiped out. Drives me nuts. Finished a long email and have no idea what key got touched but I lost everything. Happens too many times.
That happens to me too! I have not yet figured it out. But if I know I have to type something long in an email, I now type it into Word first, saving as I go. When done, I copy and paste the content into the email. So frustrating.
I use a Macbook Air and am a touch typist so I don't usually need to look at my keys and I can type very fast.
My keyboard has some odd behavior when typing text in email or text doc. The center cluster of letters R, B, I perhaps Y - When my fingers are flying in an email or text doc. suddenly the insertion point/cursor jumps to the top of the previously typed word. I think it is [the'ination'*]JUST HAPPENED
quick, nearly simultaneous comb* (the cursor jumped to [the] above after B, I - in the word combination and moved above [*]. I tested typing this combination a few times and it didn't do it again. Maybe it is the autocorrect - I will turn that off and test. (Someone suggested an inadvertent touchpad which I have been careful to rule out).
I have been trying to ignore it and lately making a mental note of when and why. Seems the center of the keyboard is mapped to some strange move. Any suggestions appreciated.
I will try another user account to see if it follows.
Thanks for the great tips and the screenshots are my top tip for any support!
I use a Macbook Air and am a touch typist so I don't usually need to look at my keys and I can type very fast.
My keyboard has some odd behavior when typing text in email or text doc. The center cluster of letters R, B, I perhaps Y - When my fingers are flying in an email or text doc. suddenly the insertion point/cursor jumps to the top of the previously typed word. I think it is [the'ination'*]JUST HAPPENED!
quick, nearly simultaneous comb* (the cursor jumped to [the] above after rapid B, I - in the word combination! It does not happen again - I tested typing this combination a few times just now and it didn't do it. Maybe it is the autocorrect - I will turn that off and test. (Someone suggested an inadvertent finger on touchpad which I have been careful to rule out).
I have been trying to ignore it and lately making a mental note of when and why. Seems the center of the keyboard is mapped to some strange move. Any suggestions appreciated.
I will try another user account profile to see if it follows.
I just bought this computer it was working when I closed it up today my letters will not function my numbers and symbols are OK what is the function key to get the letters to work?
My cat disabled my enter key completely. I spent a few hours trying to find out how to re-enable it. Turns out I needed to hold down the num lock key for 5 seconds.
I was working diligently, and while compiling a program I hit a combination of keys on my Windows 7 machine and now I have this red rectangle following my cursor around. Now I 've stopped working to find out what the heck this is and to get rid of it. It's a priority now, but shouldn't be! It's not zooming, just a semitransparent rectangle, then when I get near the edges of the rectangle with my mouse pointer, it moves in the direction I'm closest to. WTF?! It's mad!
I am typing on my laptop and then out of the blue my keyboard is not working. I can hit enter but cannot type anything. I have to stop close out of everything and restart my computer to get back the keyboard. What am I doing!!
When I go back to correct a mistake in a word, the next letter I type erases the next letter to it.
What keyboard key have I mistakenly activated?
'Insert'.
I usually change my keyboard shortcuts so that doesn't work any more.
I was pretty surprised not to see it up there, too!
I think you are hitting the "insert" key. After you hit that key, anything you type replaces the letters that are just after the cursor with your new letters.
Thankyou! You're a life-saver!
My phone was suddenly on 'zoom mode' but I read -thankfully, that if you use 3 fingers-tap on top portion of series 2 Apple Watch...voila! It fixed.. NOW, I'm off the Southwest airplane, & it's 12 30 p.m. But my watch is an HOUR FSST?! How do I FIX THAT & Y did that happen?
when i touch the letter L my pc goes to lock screen and a short cut mode has taken over me keyboard.. so i cant typt anymore
..
I'm not big on key combos because they are a menace more often than not. Now I'm on Win 8.1, have had the Charms Bar (and clock, which pops in and out with it) deactivated for many months, still pops in for no reason. I have Hot Corners turned off. Just typing online "day" or possibly "ay" will often activate them - I'm just typing along and there is the Charms Bar, which halts everything I'm doing. This is true no matter what browser I use so seems to be a hidden Win gremlin. It just makes me long that much more for Win 7, or something that RELIABLY deactivates all the new features of 8.1 but not the improved security, networking, etc. There is no way I'll ever go to 10 unless Stardock or someone similar helps us get rid of all the new garbage. Between my laptop and my iPhone, I've decided Microsoft and Apple have their heads up their posteriors permanently. Their OS's were all so much better a few years ago.
I WILL KEEP THIS HANDY, SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE MY KEYBOARD HAS BEEN POC ESSED AND I AM NOT IN CONTROL WHAT SO EVER, A MisTAKE AT LOT OF US MAKE IS GOING TO GET A DRIVER, DOWNLOAD APP AFTER APP TRYING TO FIX IT, I HAVE HAD TO DO A RE COVERY , MORE THEN ONCE OVER THIS, NOW WILL GO SEE WHY I AM TYPING IN AND OUT OF CAPS AND WHY SPACES ARE APPEARING IN THE MIDDLE OF WORDS
all i can say is thank you for the helpfull tips on keyboard mistakes
So i will be doing normal things and all of the sudden if i press a key it wont type but instead it pulls up different setting screens. Why is this happening?
Well in my case FILTER KEYS got me. Thanks for getting me to the area to fix it.
If I hold the shift key down for a fraction of a second too long, the web page goes back. I'm using Win 7 and Chrome. This didn't use to happen. I checked the Ease of Access Center, too. Please help.
Maybe me too with this command? something on left side of laptop is causing random closing of browser, I don't even get the "sure you want to close all tabs" message. It is instant. Probably useful to hide your PR0N from someone approaching but irritating for me. It is recent, sloppy a keyboarder as I am in bed, and in spite of having a broken sticky D key affecting WSRDZXCF , I have only seen this since summer started. And I hate it.
my screen disappears on to the side for no reason that i know of.....i have to click on whatever piece i can still see in order to bring it back! ughhhhhhhhh!
Great article - my problem was listed, and following your advice fixed it.
Thanks for your help!
P.S. Found a typo in the first paragraph: "you're" should be "your" --
"...when you’re cat or child decide it’s party time..."
Many thanks again!
dutchgirl
When I type, I'll come to a random letter and a box will appear at the top right with that letter in it. That letter (or sometimes a combination of letters) will be highlighted in yellow in every appearance on the page, and the scroll bar will have yellow stripes in it. It happened three times while I was typing this! It's SO irritating!
I had to post here, because you saved my life.
It happened to me several years, in almost all my computers, and I realized I was the only one with that problems!
When I change tabs in a browser, I use control+shift+tab / control+tab command. And when I use it, sometimes and zooms in and out the page. The solution: turn off those sticky keys.
Thank you very much!!!
Sticky keys not working
I have come across lots and lots of postings regarding the ubiquitous Sticky Keys being accidentally activated and how to disable them- BUT what if you're one of those unfortunate individuals who can't operate the Ctrl/Alt/Del keys in the sequence necessary to bring up the task manager etc and NEED the Sticky keys - only to find that despite having been correctly selected in your Ease of Access Centre (Make the keyboard easier to use) suddenly they aren't working? Well, check the Numbers Lock utility on your keyboard hasn't been enabled, because this will prevent the Sticky Keys from operating!
On Google Chrome, sometimes suddenly my screen shows from top to bottom and my address line and tabs are not showing. There doesn't seem to be a way to close the window/page I'm on. I have to go to the Windows key to get to desktop and close Google from the Taskbar. What key(s) am I hitting that results in this dastardly phenomena? It occurs while I'm typing pretty fast. Thank you for your help! Jen
f11...
Also regarding the password lockout--I recently had that problem and it wasn't the caps lock, it was because my right hand was shifted over one key when I typed it in, my right index finger was on the K instead of the J. So when I typed in the password it was all wrong. I simply shifted my right hand over one letter, typed in the password by memory and using the same movements of those fingers for the letters and it actually worked! Saved me a lot of money and lost data. If all else fails, try that and see if it works. I can't be the only one that has ever done that.
on pressing spacebar its showing restore, minimize, maximize, close button. what could be the issue???
If that's happening when you press the spacebar then the Alt key is down.
when i hit the shift key it will type what you see below cant figure out how to stop itd token ILLEGALYou can't use the same quotes within each other, try making the outer quotes single quotes or escaping the inner double quotes.
> "Quoth the raven:\n\t\"Nevermore!""
Line 1: Unexpected token ILLEGAL
Line 1: Unexpected token ILLEGALYou can't use the same quotes within each other, try making the outer quotes single quotes or escaping the inner double quotes.
> "Quoth the raven:\n\t
SLd token ILLEGALYou can't use the same quotes within each other, try making the outer quotes single quotes or escaping the inner double quotes.
> "Quoth the raven:\n\t\"Nevermore!""
Line 1: Unexpected token ILLEGAL
Line 1: Unexpected token ILLEGALYou can't use the same quotes within each other, try making the outer quotes single quotes or escaping the inner double quotes.
> "Quoth the raven:\n\t
SLd token ILLEGALYou can't use the same quotes within each other, try making the outer quotes single quotes or escaping the inner double quotes.
> "Quoth the raven:\n\t\"Nevermore!""
Line 1: Unexpected token ILLEGAL
Line 1: Unexpected token ILLEGALYou can't use the same quotes within each other, try making the outer quotes single quotes or escaping the inner double quotes.
> "Quoth the raven:\n\t
SL
by the way this is a coding sequence or something that was up on my computerfor a short time. the cat was on the keyboard so absolutely no idea what was hit.
my cat sat on my laptop now my touchpad wont work help.
And i have just found out that holding Shift for 8 seconds made me able to type the same letter every second....
"Is there an annoying keyboard shortcut I forgot to mention?"
A big problem is jumping apllications and losing text having no idea what keystrokes one just made.
Is there a list somewhere?
More importantly does the list describe the effect in everyday language and not Tech speak.
(As a User for over 20 years there are still Tech terms that are a mystery!)
I have seen short lists - but I rarely recognise the effect just experienced.
More importantly - how can keyboard short-cuts be disabled?
(Better would be allowing the User to select a few manually. I don't mind Underline, Bold and Italic)
I'm on windows 10 on my laptop....this happened before and I can't remember how to fix it. I must have hit some button that caused my touchpad scrolling to not work....can someone help me out here? I checked the settings and it is enabled.
This is one I cannot find. This seems to only happen when I am typing on the web or in a search bar, but when I tap the scroll wheel on my Microsoft wireless mobile mouse 3500 it will type the letter c. I have searched for a solution for days. Any ideas why this would be happening?
maybe the charms menu shortcut or something...
check your microsoft driver.
Whenever I play a game in which I have to use W A S and D to move , I have to hold W however , instead of continuing the movement , my keyboard registers that I keep tapping W rather than holding it down and it spams the moving animation!
Try another keyboard.
It usually happens on android with a wired keyboard or on some really weird keyboards(touch/lazer projected ones...)
every time i press the arrow buttons when i'm typing, instead of moving the cursor over, it HIGHLIGHTS the letter next to it. so I can't add words without erasing the whole thing and starting over. It's pretty annoying, I have no idea how i did it or how to fix it.
ctrl or shift stuck.
Shift highlights text. ctrl+shift highlights a word.
Thank you, i mean that but it didn't address my current and new and improved, never happened before problem. I have 165 pages instead of 6 WHAT DID I DO?
EXCEL sorry. i forgot to add that
Ive had my new laptop for a few weeks and just recently my L key has turned into a Arrow Right key, can anyone help me with this?
I was trying to insert an em dash with the alt code, but instead, a different symbol was inserted, and my cursor will now not let me select in between characters. It only highlights the nearest character or all the text.
Okay, my cat walked across the keyboard and now the control key is locked on....so far I have accidentally turned off my speakers, and really messed things up...and I can't fix anything because the control key is locked
help
I am going to cry, I bought this laptop (Acer Aspire V15 Touch) not even three months ago and soon after it started this
-making me unable to type with my on screen keyboard, my external or the laptop keys themselves (all my shortcut options are disabled)
-scrolling with my mouse maximizes and minimizes the windows, my desktop etc...its annoying
-when i go to move one of my programs on my desktop it creates a shortcut/and entirely new original program of the one i am moving.
-when i go to click on a link on a page, it should use the same tab to open the new page right?(assuming i am not on facebook) but it doesn't it creates a new tab every time especially when i go to use youtube....
Some days like right now it acts like it did the day i bought it which is like it should but others i can't seem to have a properly functioning laptop...please does anyone know what's wrong????
I have had it sent in to where i bought it from and they thought it was a sticky ctrl key but they "fixed it" and ctrl sticking wasn't at all the problem
Thank you for the article! I've been having an issue where I have to keep hitting Ctrl+Shift to use some shortcuts and also keep things I type on the numeric keypad from showing as letters with umlauts or acute/grave accents. What do I do to keep this from happening?
I put the space bar in a a pass word for the users. Password tlogin. And it won't let me. Input it at all
Thank you for this article - my problem was caused by my small dog who climbed on the desk and decided to sleep on the keyboard...! The dog hairs gave him away, and your article gave me the answer to the reason why half the keys were not working - Number lock!
I've been playing a game recently, and I was actually recording a video... and this really got on my nerves. Anyways, I type really fast and I just so happened to hit a certain symbol or whatever was on my keyboard to make this happen. I don't know why it does it but whenever I type "{" it inputs a space, and whenever I type "}" it inputs an accented e "é"... but it doesn't do it outside of the game. It's really annoying me, since I'm already half way through the video and this happened and I don't know what it could possibly be.
I have A problem with my letters P and e when i Press those Keys my computer types other Keys Like on P :æ' and on e it just types y and Enter
My keyboard is on Danish help
I'm surprised the language change didn't make it in here. That's one of the big slip ups I find in my office.
Well, many people don't use multiple languages, but I actually did include what happens when you change languages and the Alt button stays activated. I hate that. :)
my numbers on laptop wont work --it just stopped during me working on it and the NUM LOCK is not on. Something else caused this it did it one time and someone told me to do something with other keys to unlock them
Do you mean the numbers on your numpad or the numbers at the top of the keyboard?
If you're talking about the numpad, your num lock key needs to be ON. Otherwise these keys are arrows.
So, if the Numlock IS on, and it's still only acting like arrows, what do you do? I know there is a key combo to switch it back to numbers instead of arrows, but I can't find it now!
never faced any such problems..
Haha Yaara, this is great! I've been meaning to check this article out for a while... I can relate to every single one of these.
SO I CANT TYPE ON MY DOCUMENT FOR WORK BUT CAN ONLINE. WHAT DID MY CAT HIT? ALL I GET IS AN ARROW..NO CURSOR TO TYPE.
It's hard to understand what you're experiencing exactly, so I'm not sure how to solve your problem.
You can try asking your question on MakeUseOf Answers too, great place to get some answers. :)
Thank you so much, Iv always had a problem with sticky keys i don't know why but ever single time i dump my headphones or the cats come to say hellow STICKY KEYS appear. before i just turned my computer on and off again so than you very much for helping me with this.
These are M'soft problems (and, the more they can have…)
initially i suffer from it. but not now.
My most common enemies are...sticky keys and NUMpad. I didn't know about the scroll lock effect in MS Excel. Thanks for the tips!
it's nice to know that there is a CooL site like makeuseof.com that really! helps a lot to a someone like me? Really appreciate all the infos you had such as computers, mobile etc's keep it up and more power. Me and the rest of the Filipino's all over the world (i hope so) likes makeuseof.com
When I play GTA Vice City, I want to go fast and press Shift 5 times in a row, and the game suddenly minimizes and sticky keys dialog appears! It always happens to me! :D
The Arrow Keys Scroll My Entire Excel Spreadsheet,this the one experience the most.
I was typing, hit CTRL by mistake. The text was highlighted and then it disappeared! What happened? It has nothing to do with sticky keys. I hit CTRL again--trying to undo my mistake-nothing.I am new to computers and things like this drive me crazy.Can you help??? Would you EMAIL me? I would really appreciate it!!!
Thankyou Deb
My guess is that you hot Ctrl+A by mistake. This selects all your text, and when you go on typing, you actually erase everything that's highlighted. If this happens in the future, try hitting Ctrl+Z to undo your last action.
First one is most usefull
Terrific article, and I learned something new. I knew I could used the Control key and the + and _ keys to zoom in and out of a web page but did not know I could achieve the same thing using the Control key and my mouse scroll button. Very useful.
Thanks a bunch!
In addition to Ctrl with +- to zoom in/out, Ctrl and 0 will zoom to the original aspect
.
My usual accidental key combination other than the ones mentioned above, Ctrl+W instead of Ctrl+S(Save). Ctrl+W closes (W)indow. It's like Alt+F4 :)
Interesting, it never happened to me before, although W and S are definitely close. Sounds annoying!
hahahaha i always remember this on our office. people seems to be pissed off when this kind of thing happens and it was simple to fix. They thought they have done something wrong.
I love playing the rotated display trick, i did it once at school and the school admin didn't even know how to fix it. I would have thought we would considering he's meant to be running the whole network. I had to be pulled out of class to fix it for him.
I turned off sticky keys in my computer lab as the students kept turning them on. Under Control Panel, Ease of Access, Making the Keyboard Easier to Use, you can uncheck use sticky keys. If there are other features you keep invoking by accident, you could probably find a checkbox for them under Control Panel.
I do wish that Word would show Overstrike/Insert in the status bar like they used to. However, when you have Insert on by mistake, quickly press Ctrl+Z.
Thanks for the tips! I wish I remembered how annoying the insert button is when writing this. :)
Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Keys does not works for me in XP.
Im glad my gaming keyboard tunes most of these keystrokes out.
funny , these things used to happen when i started used my computer..nostalgia ..:)
I've just had a thought - I'm going to get auto hot key on my laptop again and try it. Why not set up a macro, whenever you press caps lock - the system will press it again for you, immediately disabling it.
If you have auto hotkey, run CapsLock::ScrollLock. It'll remap it to scroll lock, which no one ever uses anyway. Or another key of your choice you're unlikely to use.
Brilliant! :)
I’ve remapped mine to Backspace. Now I use it more often than the one on the right as it's easier to reach.
Oh, that sounds useful! I might try it. I have no trouble learnign new keyboard shortcuts, but when replacing something, I tend to drag awfully. Still, I'll give it a go
Oh yup 2 others, function keys especially f1 for some reason (probably mistake for a 1 or ESC), brining up a help window. Secondly netbook and laptop users accidentally touching the mouse pad sending them anywhere on the screen. With a Dell mini9 it is the bane of my life!
If you look at the function keys, one may have the image of a mouse or a touch pad on it. Press fn and that to temporarily disable it. If you're feeling brave you could disable your touch pad in device manager. I'd only do that if you can get to device manager without using the mouse to begin with though. And only if your computer will disable it without restarting, that would be inconvenient.
Thank you Arron, I have seen this symbol on other machines but I have sadly not seen or found such an ability on the Dell Mini9. I think there may be a program out there to make a control key to enable and disable the touchpad, but not sure how legit it is. and I have heard there is a dell update that disables the touchpad when a usb mouse is in operation. but no use unless at a desk. Thanks again
F1 is a great one which I should have thought about, thanks!
A nice article, but remember to state this is MS Windows based as other operating systems are available.
I would add to the list a couple of main annoyances. The Insert key. When pressed once, its effects may not be immediately noticed, when you go back and edit a sentence you find you are overwiting what is already there. Simply pressing Insert again to fix it. Next Autocorrect - Word and a number of other programs may automattically correct spelling mistakes or words that are not in its dictionary. This can lead to unreadable text as the replace words may be unrelated to the article. To fix, turn off autocorrect and proof read your work before moving on.
Nice tip Andrew on the rotating display, I will do that on the wife's PC straight away as it always confuses her!
You're absolutely right, I was sure I mentioned that I'm a Windows user so most of these are probably Windows only. Sorry about that.
Thanks for your suggestions and tips!
"and proof read your work before moving on."
Proof read? Does anyone proof read any more? Seems very few do, unfortunately.
I always thought that proof reading is what you do just after sending the document.
very true
The only listed problem i've had was the alt+shift issue - it caused letters 'y' and 'z' get swaped. This was really annoying.
But the most frustrating for me was hitting the 'insert' button. I totally didn't know what to do when suddenly during editing my text everything i was writing started deleting the already existing text. It took me some time to discover the simple solution :)
The insert button is an excellent addition. It hasn't happened to me in years because of my current keyboard layout so I completely forgot how annoying it is. Thanks!
I used to have a 'compact' keyboard where the insert key was very close to the backspace. I hit it by accident so often, that in the end I physically removed that key...
Good article............could anyone please tell me the thing to block the stick keys
Thanks for the article. I tried Ctrl+Alt+Arrow keys, but my screen is not flipped though.
If you're stuck in a different orientation, you can usually find an option in your video card settings to flip the display too.
Shift Key is the most common hahahaha
Very nice article! I didn't know the function of scroll lock and sticky keys.
Also, I was reading that first paragraph in a curious way:
"...when you lean on your keyboard, and of course, when you’re a cat or child..."
for the rotating display this can be completely avoided by going into control panel--> uninstall programs--> Turn windows features on or off--> and then uncheck "tablet PC components--> apply.
this will remove that feature and the chance of it ever happening again :)
Great tip, and really useful here. Thanks!
it is first time for me to know about this shortcut
by the way i try it but not work with me ? i do not why
It should.. Windows started including this feature when they started making tablets, not Surface, but those chunky Gateway machines way back in 2003. As is their wont, they have included the functionality for all versions of WIndows.
Well, who knows when you might want to flip your laptop sideways! It's a very original way to work.
I always wondered why mine never did that, I would try that combination and nothing happens lol.