Tab key gone crazy

Hi all,

My tab key occasionally goes crazy. When I say "crazy", what I mean is that hitting (not shift-tab or alt-tab, just tab) will shift focus away from the current window. I'm not sure what is getting the focus, but sometimes pushing a key will have further effect. For example, hitting , followed by the 's' key, will sometimes bring up the shutdown dialog. Sometimes, it will not (but the current window will still lose focus). And sometimes, tab key will behave normally (ie: send a tab character to the current window). I also sometimes get the Search Files/Folders dialog, and the Run command dialog.

Needless to say, this is a major PITA, particularly when I'm coding. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be causing this?

I am running WindowBlinds, DesktopX (specifically, the KDock widget), ObjectDock Plus, RightClick, and Keyboard Launchpad.

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Repton.

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Corky_O

Join Date 04/2004

Have you tried a different keyboard to make sure it is not a hardware issue?

If not hardware or a driver, I am thinking "Process of elimination" - run one program at a time for a period of time until you find the offending program.

It sounds like the tab key is getting itself confused with the "WinKey" functions to me.

The most likely to affect the keyboard hotkeys would be Keyboard Launchpad, IMO.

Just some thoughts.

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Unfortunately, this is a laptop, so swapping the keyboard is not trivial..

Keyboard launchpad was my suspect too, but there's nothing in its configuration dialog to suggest any feature like this.

...hmm, a bit more experimentation reveals: If I have a window where the title starts with a 'c' (like, say, "Configure Keyboard Launchpad"), then , "c" will give that window the focus (and bring it to the foreground). Similarly for windows whose titles start with other letters.

Is there anything in the Stardock suite that offers this sort of functionality? Or a builtin WindowsXP ability? It's certainly not standard winkey functionality. (or anything else I've ever heard of)

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hmm, check if some dirt or other foreign piece of object has gotten inside your system, underneath the keyboard. I was once having trouble like that, if I'd press a certain key, it would repeat like 20 times, and stop when I'd bang my laptop in rage...

Anyways, i got a pressurized air can to clean my laptop with, and surprise... it was a stale piece of a waffle...

Your case is much wierder, and if all else fails, I wouldn't rule out a rogue proggy or some 'prankware.' There are bothersome pieces of code that might behave the way yours is... but keep it as a last option... I'm sure it's more to do with software configurations etc.

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The problem appears to be RightClick !

Maybe I will email Stardock Support to see if they have any ideas..

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