# windows qUESTION-hELP!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-question-help/486648>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 20, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-question-help/486648 "2009-02-20T01:19:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-question-help/486648/1 "2009-02-20T01:19:16Z")

</div>

I hit some button on WINDOWS today, and it made my desktop keep switching between the application I had open (Power Point), and OUTLOOK.  
It was terrible-how do I stop this?:eek:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-question-help/486648/2 "2009-02-20T02:28:14Z")

</div>

Sometimes in windows the alt key acts like a toggle, which results in app switching whenever you press the tab key. Usually you can clear this by pressing the alt key again. If that doesn’t help, just reboot.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-question-help/486648/3 "2009-02-20T02:52:26Z")

</div>

You could have a key stuck. Firmly press and release all of the meta keys (alt, ctrl, shift, winkey, menu) and the tab key just for good measure. Make sure you don’t have some “accessibility” software running, which would make a meta key act like it’s stuck even if it isn’t.