ripping out the windows "start" key

danr · Mar 2005

surely i can't be the only person who rips out the "start" key from keyboards?

on my new PC with its shiny wireless keyboard, i'm loathe to deface it so soon ... but working in Photoshop tonight, i've pressed it once too often while intending to hit ctrl or alt. I think i'm gonna go get a knife and pop it the fuck out, like every other keyboard i've ever had to use

come on someone, back me up here. It's not just me being a cack-handed twat, is it?

AstroZombie · Mar 2005

Sure, you can rip it out. Or you can run this handy little .reg that the operations guy at Liquid wrote for me to disable it

danr · Mar 2005

wow, that's cocking fantastic! Now i can avoid getting a smack for breaking the new keyboard

thanks a million Astrozombie. Give your operations guy a blowjob from me, k?

swampbug · Mar 2005

Smear some poo on the windows key. You'll never want to touch it again.

Rick Stirling · Mar 2005

I reckon yer just a cack handed twat

PaK · Mar 2005

Yup, tho the current one at work doesnt belong to me so i haven't 'modified' it yet.

I have mod'ed my graphics tablet tho

I pulled the bottom off a plastic keyboard and sawed off the extender legs. I shaped them and roughed up the edges so they would form a good bonding surface and glued them onto the back of my tablet, not it is proped up the way i like it and Ican flip them down if I like to get it f;lat to the table agauin if I need it flat.

Has anyone else modded their interface devices by hand?

-R

Josh_Singh · Mar 2005

I carved a notch into the grip of my MK22 so I can hold a knife, shoot and cqc at a moments notice.

Asthane · Mar 2005

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone else modded their interface devices by hand?

[/ QUOTE ]

Does duct taping my Wacom to my slippery desk count?

Mojo2k · Mar 2005

i manualy remove my left windows key.. it jsut gets in the way in alot of games.. i mean, the one key on th boards that will completely throw you out of the game.. surounded bby some of the most used game comand keys.. also.. you have 2.. why the hell did htey nink you need a win key on both sides of the space.. i mean.. its not like you use it with shortcut combos like shift , alt, ctrl.

Sett · Mar 2005

I have two computers on my desktop.
Two monitors...etc

I use a switchbox so I can use one mouse/keyboard.
There is a button on the box to switch control, or you can do a keyboard combo to switch. Its double tap on Scroll lock then 1 or 2.

I painted the Scroll lock key with red nail polish so I could quickly eyeball it and switch.

What I really want is a single Copy,Paste keys. I know I can just use Crtl-C but I do use them allot when programming. And an Enter key on my mouse.

Asthane · Mar 2005

[ QUOTE ]
And an Enter key on my mouse

[/ QUOTE ]

I do that, actually. Many programable mice will let you. It's great for zipping through windows and the like

Ctrl+Awesome · Mar 2005

I used to get annoyed by that key, and then i decided to figure out the benefits of it.

I use that key almost second nature now and because of it, it doesn't get in the way of me using photoshop or my gaming hot keys. I think just being more aware of it, you will easily get around the annoyance of mistaking it for the ctrl or alt key.

I don't know if any of you will find this helpful but i tend to use these features a lot.

Win - Start Menu (oh how familiar we all are with that...)
Win+E - My Computer
Win+R - Run box
Win+U - Utility Manager (tends to bring up the speaking utility)
Win+D - Brings up the desktop
Win+F - Window Search
Win+L - Quick Logout
Win+Pause/Break/Scroll lock - System Properties
Win+B - Task bar
Win+M - Brings up the Desktop but doesn't clear all running programs that run on it (i.e. IM programs or Aqua Dock) I don't fully understand this one.

I don't use this key enough to know if there are any Ctrl, Alt, Shift combinations with it, but I'm sure its nothing a google search couldn't find out.

Now i recently got a wireless keyboard and it has all kinds of fun customizable keys on it, but for some reason the people who designed that thing felt it necessary to rearrange the Home, End, Pg Up, PgDwn, and Delete keys. Now the delete key is as big as a Enter key and its going vertical. Stuff like that throws me way off, especially switching between different computers...

KDR_11k · Mar 2005

My keyboard had power, sleep and wake buttons where the PrintScr, ScrollLk and Break keys usually are. Since I sometimes hit those instead of the Fkeys and waking from sleep mode never works properly I ripped them out. Another annoyance is how they moved the # key from the side of the large Enter key to the side of the BkSpace key and made the BkSpace the size of a normal key. I'm this close to ripping out CapsLk as well. Who the fuck decided we need that idiotic key, anyway? It just gets in the way when I try to hit Shift.

I don't use my other keyboard instead simply because I like the key pressure on this one.

Thermidor · Mar 2005

Ive always hated these keys , for years i used a 15 year old AT connection keyboard with a ps2 adaptor , until i spilt beer in it. then i started using those REG key things on the new keyboards ... allthough , when you next reinstall windows you wont be albe to find that reg anywhere

JKMakowka · Mar 2005

I used to hate them too, but since I use Linux I started to like them, since they have completly different functions. Basicly they can act like an additional ctrl key, or what ever the programmer of the application used it for.

My media player of choice, for example uses for 'non focus' control: Windowsbutton plus z,x,c,v,b for all important commands, always usable while modeling, or even while gaming.

hawken · Mar 2005

I don't mind the windows key for the points ctrl+awsome brings up, but my laptop keyboard is a joke.

I'm very used to the standard keyboards for my programming, so usefull keys like; home, end, page up, page down and del all appear above the arrow keys... on my laptop, they are all put out of the way above the numeric keypad. Fucking awsome idea HP you nutters... and whats above my arrow keys?

guess... seriously...

empty spaces. EMPTY FUCKING SPACES

CheapAlert · Mar 2005

Just use an old pre-1995 keyboard like i do

Rick Stirling · Mar 2005

Thats only cos you use pre-1995 computers

Bronco · Mar 2005

just wait till they start adding the other poinless key....known as "any" key

john

motives · Mar 2005

well since u brought it up

Jay Evans · Mar 2005

Ya I ripped out the left one at work and home as well. I think it also gives the added benefit of telling where my hand is, for the ever important ctrl\alt\shift for 3d progs.

KDR_11k · Mar 2005

Am I the only one here who never accidentally hits the winkey?

blue2k · Mar 2005

im always hitting that key while im surrounded by nasties in diablo2 by the time i get back into game and theres that lag pause im usually dead. this key removal is essential for a hardcore player.

monster · Mar 2005

I have to side with Ctrl+Awesome & KDR_11k. I use WinKey+E to quickly open windows and WinKey+R to bring up the run dialog.

Once you start using the key on purpose you don't really hit it on accident anymore.

sundance · Mar 2005

i've never removed the key, i've never accidentally hit the key. ergo, i'm more l33t than yow. except maybe KDR...oh and monster...and definitely not ctrl+awesome...okay, so i'm not as l33t as i thought...

MPBirdman · Mar 2005

I'm like cheapalert. I have a nice old model M keyboard from IBM. There's no windows key, and it weighs a ton, but it has great feedback for my programming and it can take a beating. I'd take it over a new keyboard anyday.

KDR_11k · Mar 2005

Hm, I never use win+E, I have loads of shortcuts in my task bar that open windows in the most commonly used directories (e.g. my work directory, the directory BitTorrent dumps into, the folder with the smaller games).

KMan · Mar 2005

I just love it that the shortcut to bringing up your system properties, you have to break a window. Wahahahaaa, wahaha, omglolzhaxorzkthnxbye

hawken · Mar 2005

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well since u brought it up

[/ QUOTE ]

Another Saphire user I see!

HP are the worst at keyboard design:

Asthane · Mar 2005

[ QUOTE ]
Am I the only one here who never accidentally hits the winkey?

[/ QUOTE ]

I never hit it either, intentionally or otherwise. It's never been a problem for me. I try not to point these thing out to all the ham-fisted game players though

peanut · Mar 2005

I dont know if this was posted before but there's a way in windows to disable this key.

I probably have to look where is that option

frosty · Mar 2005

I must really be a geek, I enjoyed all these posts. Your a funny dude Rick S.

Hey Cheapy and Birdman I have about 5
or 6 of those old keyboards in my garage.

KDR - I never recall hitting it.

I never thought of just removing the keys, great idea though.

BeXoR · May 2005

[ QUOTE ]
I dont know if this was posted before but there's a way in windows to disable this key.

I probably have to look where is that option

[/ QUOTE ]
If you use a Microsoft KB like the naturals or multimedia ones they come with software on cd that has a key config program. Can rebind or disable the keys there.

bored alien · May 2005

Thanks for the inspiration, that thing was killing me and I had no desire to ruin my beautiful lappy! A few minutes with google gave me this: http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/disable_windows_key/
If you can handle installing a reg key from the web, you can choose to disable just the left, just the right, or both win keys. There's also one for bringing them back.

I've been using it. No bad things. Only good things.

adam · May 2005

You n00bs need to learn how to type. I've hardly hit the Windows key by mistake.
Mind you a use Windows+E (Explorer), Windows+R (Run), and Windows+D (Desktop) daily so I'm familiar with its location.

Boo hoo.

kleinluka · May 2005

I always activate the narrator by mistake cause my Y key is where everyone elses Z key is and sometimes i make two mistakes at the same time by pressing windows key + U instead of control + z/y and the damn thing pops up "LEFT CLICK PPPPOOOLYYYCOUNTDOTCOM BLAHBLAH"

Steve Schulze · May 2005

If you don't like having a big, ugly empty space where you removed your key from or being in danger of sticking your finger in that nasty gunk that builds up inside keyboards, you can pop the keys off, saw the shaft down flat against the base of the button then stick it back onto the keyboard again. Lo, you shall have a keyboard without superfluous keys that still looks like a fully functional piece of hardware.

Even if you do use the stupid windows key, I'd recomend removing the soft power off button. Hitting that often shuts the computer straight off without offering a chance to save any work.

ripping out the windows "start" key

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