In Windows 7, is there any way to disable the “Windows Key”? I think that’s what it’s called - the one with the Windows logo that brings up the Start menu.
I’m asking this as a Mac user who has switched to gaming on a PC. That “Windows” key is in exactly the same place as the Mac’s “Option” key, and it’s getting really annoying when I keep getting switched out of WoW into Windows Explorer every time I inadvertently hit that key while trying to perform an in-game command that, on the Mac, uses the Option key (these commands use the Alt key in Windows, which is in the spot occupied by the Command key on a Mac…)
I physically removed the key from my keyboard. That seemed to work fine.
I don’t know if there’s a way to disable the key through software.
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This isn’t a bad idea. As a lifetime Windows user, I can’t say that there’s ever been a time where the Windows key was needed or at least irreplaceable. You can manage without it.
I’m pretty sure that you can do without the windows key, and I almost never use it to activate the start menu, but I do use it as a shift key.
{W}-m (also known as the “boss key”) minimizes all windows
{W}-M maximizes them again
{W}-F1 opens help
{W}-F opens search (find)
{W}-{TAB} gives you a cycling view of all open windows
It certainly has a convenient use, but it’s not required. I use it for only two commands, though frequently: [Win]+E opens explorer and [Win]+D takes you to the Desktop.
I physically removed the key from my keyboard. That seemed to work fine.
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Even better still, if you had sufficient foresight a few years ago: After these keys first started appearing on keyboards, a time came when my company discarded a bunch of older keyboards when they bought new machines. I collected a lifetime supply of those old keyboards without the Windows keys. (ETA: Perhaps I should auction them on E-Bay and get rich! Except that I still want to keep them myself!)
Those Windows keys are truly obnoxious. If they had been placed above the top row or off to the side, I’d have no problem with that. But their placement along the bottom row is a real PITA (and many earlier keyboards also had a longer space bar). They are very much in the way; they are waaaaaaaaay too easy to hit inadvertently, with disruptive results (as the OP rightly complains); and they aren’t keys you would use all that often.
I mean, if you’re actually doing something useful with your machine, like entering text into a Word document or spread sheet or other actual data work, you are going to be doing LOTS of typing with only occasional need to pop up other windows. Having that happen accidentally, and frequently, is truly annoying. These keyboards are just another Microsoft-dictated in-your-face abomination.
If only they had put those keys in some out-of-the way place on the keyboard!
“Gaming” keyboards frequently have a switch that disables the Windows key. There is also a keyboard mapping utility that lets you remap keys - for many years I had my caps lock remapped to the scroll lock and the Win key disabled. Haven’t had a version that worked since Vista but such tools are out there.
Rather than removing the key, which might not help if you still end up pressing the little button under the key, try remapping your keyboard. This is the one I use and it appears to be well-respected (and is free).
You can then assign the windows key as “options” or something similar if you want to, and you can also assign other keys as handy gaming keys - I have a couple assigned as pause and play and rewind. That kind of personalisation is pretty handy for gaming.
Now see, if I had done that myself I wouldn’t get to hear from all my fine friends at the SDMB! Also, I’m obligated to ask the occasional stupid question about Windows in order to maintain my cover as a computer-illiterate Mac user
I assume that’d be because you were used to keyboards long before the Win key came out (Win 95), so you’ve learnt to make do without. Like people complaining about car key fobs.
As a gamer it would be truly annoying to be pulled out of the action in a game and back to the desktop from one errant keypress. That and the feel are the reason I use old IBM Model M keyboards.
