Put Windows key out of its misery
One of the best ways to avoid wrist trouble, RSI and similar tendon-aching problems — aside from NEVER EVER cradling the phone between your shoulder and your ear! — is to minimize reaching for the mouse. (Office workers spent years at typewriters without getting RSI.) So smart people use keyboard shortcuts when they can.
But several years ago, Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, messed up the world of keyboard shortcutting by inserting a new key between the “Ctrl” and the “Alt” — the dreaded “Windows” key. This key does nothing except pop up the largely useless “Start” menu. On most desktop keyboards, it’s fairly easy to avoid. But on crowded laptop layouts, it can be hard to ignore, and I find my fingers landing on it by accident while I’m typing. Then Windows shifts its “focus” out of the active window, and even if you dismiss the Start menu, you have to click back in the window you were working in to resume whatever you were in the middle of — you can’t just keep typing.
Ugh. So I was thrilled to find this page with a handydandy registry editing script that will disable the Windows key. Highly recommended if you feel as I do. (But remember; you are editing the Windows registry. This script does the work for you, it’s pretty much click and you’re done, but if this sort of thing worries you, be warned.)
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November 9th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Nice edit! But just so you know: Windows-D will show the desktop; win-f will launch Find; win-e will launch explorer (file, not internet); and win-r will launch the run dialog. It’s not totally useless.
I definitely notice a twinge in my wrist after reaching for the mouse.
November 9th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
The real place where MS went astray is putting the caps lock key above the shift key and control key below it. Caps lock, which is very rarely used, is easy to reach, but the Ctrl key is hard to reach and is widely used as a shortcut. It’s even worse for an Emacs weenie like me. There are registry hacks to fix this, but then I’d have to retrain my fingers every time I used some else’s computer.
November 10th, 2006 at 2:00 am
People really need to learn how to use the keyboard. I use Caps, Ctrl, the Windows key, and the “context-menu-key” (whatever it’s called) everyday. IMHO they are all in the right place. The only f*ck-up is that Alt and Alt-gr is not the same function.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Second on the win-r! I am constantly using it to launch programs, terminals and shells.
I was very happy when I discovered Launchbar then Quicksilver on Macs that does this on steriods.
November 16th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
in addition to what Michael Hessling said, the key minimizes windows (windows-m), and locks my machine (windows-l)
that’s not to claim that i use it all the time, but it is somewhat useful.