Tab key

[A Very Civil Pilot]

On a good day :O, using the tab key moves the cursor from one field to the next; on a bad day :mad:, it shifts screens to each of the applications open at the bottom of the screen. The anoying thing is that I have no idea what makes the computer change it's mind as to what it feels like doing on any particular day.

Any ideas of what is going on :confused: ?

[Hamrah]

Sounds like you have a sticky "ALT" key.

ALT-TAB is supposed to switch between open windows.

[A Very Civil Pilot]

No it's not alt-tab. Using that comes up with a little icon/menu allowing you to select which screen you want. Bad-day tabbing just goes straight to the new screen.

[Nightrider]

Hamrah is spot on. In Windows pressing the ALT key and using TAB lets you move to the next open program...I use that a lot as I work often without mouse.
You have a problem with your keyboard!

[logie_bear]

AVCP,

Experienced the exact same problem myself. Stuffed if I can work it out either. I generally see it as a sign to go off and do something else, like flying (so it's not all bad).

I have another problem where my PC tells me I haven't got a CD writer installed. Appears about every 3rd Saturday I reckon.

So does the mother-in-law :rolleyes:

[BOAC]

Is it actually SWITCHING screens or just highlightling the bottom bar icon? The 'Windows' key (to left of 'ALT') does that with 'TAB' if it sticks.

As 'AVCP' says, if the 'ALT' key is sticking, you will get the 'choose application' box on screen when you press 'TAB'.

OTH, if the 'WINDOWS' key is sticking, you should get the 'QUICK RUN' panel on the left of the screen???:confused:

Try cleaning the toast out of the keyboard and see.:p

[CBLong]

I agree with Hamrah and Nightrider, except that when this happens to me, it's because Windows *internally* thinks you're still pressing Alt, rather than the Alt key physically sticking on the keyboard.

Simply pressing and releasing the Alt key, without pressing anything else, gets Windows back in sync with the real world and everything in your garden will be rosy...

:)

cbl.

[Lurk R]

This is something that happens to me also and I'm positive that it's not a sticking ALT key. Reason being that it happens after the pc has a hissy fit sometimes resulting in a "blue screen" error message. Usually some of the tray icons sitiing in bottom right corner beside the clock also disappear. Also often accompanied by the order of opened program tabs at bottom of screen being re-arranged.

After this all happens any use of the TAB key seems to flick between applications and not between fields. Quite annoying and the only way to fix it is to reboot. After which all is back to normal which is why I discount a sticking ALT key.

[CBLong]

Lurk R - Have you tried just tapping Alt? I know it seems unlikely, but that really does work for me in this situation.

It can be rationalised as follows...

Your PC doesn't continually 'look' at the keyboard to see which keys are pressed - instead, the keyboard sends unique codes to the PC every time you *either* press a key *or* release a key. In other words, every time you press and release a key, *two* scan codes are sent to the PC. In order for combination key presses like Alt-Tab to work, the PC has to "remember" that you pressed Alt some time ago, but haven't released it yet, and are now pressing Tab.

Now - when your PC has its "hissy fit" :) it's entirely possible (this is where you might smell some BS) that the PC has simply ended up "remembering" the wrong state for the Alt key - it thinks the key is still down because it hasn't received the "Alt key released" code. Tapping the key resets everything.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

cbl.

ps Just to emphasise - I'm agreeing with you that this has nothing to do with a physically sticky Alt key - it's an internal Windows problem, which therefore can potentially be solved with a 'soft' approach, rather than a reboot.

[Lurk R]

CBLong, I understand what you're saying but even if the pc thought the ALT key was in the wrong "state", wouldn't just pressing TAB mean that the little box would pop up in the middle of the screen with all the applications currently open? That doesn't happen when I have this problem. It's almost as if I was clicking all the buttons on the task bar instead of pressing TAB.

Very strange!!!

[CBLong]

True - but then maybe Windows thinks it *is* displaying that box, when it isn't really! :) All bets are off once it gets "confused"...

I don't claim to know the true explanation for it, but as I said, just tapping Alt cures exactly your problem on my machine... must be worth a try!

cbl.

[Ausatco]

Are you using XP? I have a P4 2.5gig laptop, 512M ram but it's not entirely happy all the time. Sometimes when I load it up it says "Sorry, Windows Explorer need to close ... blah, blah, please tell Microsoft about this problem." So I do and off goes the report.

Then the screen gets wiped clear of all icons and toolbars and then they come back, BUT it's not a full restart because not all the items in the tray (area near the clock) that are normally there after boot-up return. In fact only a few come back. However, 'puter works ok and seems stable enough in that amended configuration. But to get everything back I have to reboot.

When Windows Explorer hiccupped in 98 and 98SE it usually resulted in a full-blown crash. XP seem better in that regard. But I still don't know the cause.

To return to the topic, none of this results in aberrant TAB, ALT or CTRL behaviour.

AA