# hung-up delete key

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-up-delete-key/428164>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 29, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-up-delete-key/428164 "2007-11-29T12:08:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![yelimS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/54ee81/32.png) [@yelimS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelimS)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-up-delete-key/428164/1 "2007-11-29T12:08:17Z")

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The delete key on my laptop has gone crazy, and it’s trying to kill everything I’ve got. It even tries to sabotage my booting, I have to go go into setup every time I start the computer up or it starts beeping and won’t go any further. And of course I just lost half my inbox. Dell suggests I replace the keyboard, but I’d rather just disable the little bugger. How do I do this?

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-up-delete-key/428164/2 "2007-11-29T17:06:43Z")

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Dunno, but you could try [cleaning it first](http://www.computing.net/howto/simple/keyboard/), see if that helps. I’ve replaced a couple of desktop keyboards in my time before I figured out that a sticky key was the problem.

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**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-up-delete-key/428164/3 "2007-11-29T21:34:21Z")

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If cleaning it doesn’t do it and you won’t be using it for anything, try disabling it with [KeyTweak](http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/). I’m using it to disable my Caps Lock, Num Lock and Insert keys.

EDIT: On second thought, I suppose that won’t help your booting situation. So… I dunno. :dubious: