# Stopping Hotmail from taking over the ⌘N keystroke

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 14, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948 "2012-11-14T03:17:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/1 "2012-11-14T03:17:12Z")

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Hotmail pisses me off. Every time I want to open a new window and reflexively hit the ⌘N keystroke combination, instead of opening a new browser window, it opens a new mail message in Hotmail. I don’t know how Hotmail does it, but I wish it would stop.

Any suggestions?

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### Author: ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/2 "2012-11-14T19:11:18Z")

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Enter “about:config” in the address bar. There, set these settings:

```
accessibility.accesskeycausesactivation = false
ui.key.contentAccess = 0

```

This is from [http://frabe-at-magnolia.tumblr.com/post/1619074452/how-to-turn-off-website-defined-keyboard-shortcuts-in](http://frabe-at-magnolia.tumblr.com/post/1619074452/how-to-turn-off-website-defined-keyboard-shortcuts-in), and it worked for me when I finally did this about a week ago.

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### Author: ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/3 "2012-11-23T14:48:12Z")

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Okay, I tried it on Firefox. Let’s see if it works! Thanks!

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### Author: ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/4 "2012-11-23T15:40:22Z")

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It sounds like your alt key is stuck. Try hitting the alt or control key.

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### Author: ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/5 "2012-11-23T15:46:18Z")

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> [@AndyLee](#):
>
> It sounds like your alt key is stuck. Try hitting the alt or control key.

No, that’s not it.

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### Author: ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/6 "2013-03-15T01:51:56Z")

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Nope, I can’t get it to work.

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### Author: ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/7 "2013-03-15T02:16:23Z")

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I use a PC at the office, and our mail program is Outlook. If I try to open a new window using Crtl+N, it does the same thing. (And Crtl+F is annoying as well.) I think it might be an Outlook thing, rather than a hotmail thing.

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### Author: ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hotmail-from-taking-over-the-n-keystroke/640948/8 "2013-03-15T06:58:12Z")

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In Hotmail ([Outlook.com](http://Outlook.com) for me now), just go to options (the gear icon in the upper right) -\> More mail settings -\> Keyboard shortcuts -\> Turn off keyboard shortcuts.
