Some keyboard shortcuts not working

Sid Bhatt · #1 January 9th, 2002, 03:42 PM

I use a Pentium II 350 Mhz system with 64 MB RAM running Windows ME.

Some of my windows desktop keyboard shortcuts have stopped working. For example, I can't open the Start Menu using the Windows key or CTRL + ESC anymore. However, I CAN open it using TAB + ENTER.

Also, I can't switch windows using ALT + TAB anymore. Most importantly, I can't use the CTRL + ALT + DEL shortcut. There's simply no response when I use these keys.

I know there's nothing physically wrong with the keys themselves, because they work in individual applications. Shortcuts like ALT + [Letter] or TAB or CTRL + F etc work fine. Only a few Windows Desktop shortcuts don't work.

I also tried opening Windows in Safe Mode, and here all the shortcuts worked. They just don't work in Normal mode. I thought it might have happened after I installed a couple of programs, so I tried un-installing the last three or four programs I'd installed, but it still didn't work. I also tried System Restore, but that didn't work either.

Does anyone know any registry entry I can edit or any other way to correct this error? I'd really appreciate any help I can get.

Thank you.

Siddharth Bhatt

maxximilian · #2 January 17th, 2002, 11:07 PM

Hi Sid Bhatt,

Sorry nobody has responded to your question yet. I am going to bump your question back to the top of the list and give this another shot.

Sid Bhatt · #3 January 18th, 2002, 11:08 AM

Well, actually I managed to work it out. I'm not sure how I did it, but I just re-installed those programs I mentioned and the shortcuts started working again. I figure some DLL got bumped during the un-installation which disabled the shortcuts. That doesn't explain why they didn't work even before the un-installation, but anyway. Everything's back to normal now.

Thanks anyway. I appreciate your attempt to help.

Regards,
Siddharth

Dodge · #4 January 19th, 2002, 09:41 AM

Hi Sid.

Sometimes Shortcuts get corrupted by cluttered registries, badly fragged hard drives, etc. There are numerous reasons. Glad you got them fixed though.

I do recomend that you do a Thorough Scandisk and Defrag on your system. Could help out....

Also using a program like Regcleaner could help you to get rid of alot of Unused and useless files in your registry.... Here is one at the downloads page here at Cybertech. Look at the 4th one down called Registry Tools. Cybertechhelp's Downloads Page

You would be supprised at the performance difference after a Good Scandisk, Defrag, and Reg cleaning....