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Tab Key Behavior

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by sedachan

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Why will the tab key, inexplicably, start minimizing the current window and open another program on the task bar when pressed?

This has happened to me many times and was always corrected by rebooting. A friend is asking me "why" this happens and I don't have an answer.

I have searched Microsoft's technet site but have not come up with an answer.

Let's assume that the current keyboard has been cleaned, and that using another keyboard has also been tried, but the problem persists.

What would cause this??

Sharon

1 reply

by guruofdos

Several programs modify the Interrupt Table vectors for keyboard handling. Many apps have 'hotkeys' which are detected to perform certain functions. When an app using vector manipulation is terminated it should restore the original vectors on exit, but some don't do this properly. Hence, keys that were 'remapped' for the app may not have been restored to the Windows default functions. Run up the machine and test the Tab key in Windows...then run any apps you have and then after quitting, see ifthe problem arises. This will allow you to track which program is causing the mapping changes. This is quite common with a lot of applets. I often run something, then lose the ability to tab around web forms or ALT-TAB between apps. A reboot clears the problem until the dodgy 'applet' is executed again.

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