Disabling ALT+TAB

Hi All, I am in a weird situation where user have the ALT+TAB (Windows Switcher) comes up and don't go away. I try to disable ti in the registry by changing the cool switch from 1 to 0 and rebooted the pc, no help. Does anyone know how to disable it, it will save my tons of work. Any free tool that is helpful, or steps that i can follow to make sure ALT+TAB is disabled. The user is on Windows XP Professional SP3 Thank you in advance.

@Tech Team
Please forgive me for stepping in your territory However, I felt the need to warn this user about changing settings in the registry.

Hello kithey,

I see that you are new here at WTT, so let me first welcome you to the forums.

I try to disable ti in the registry by changing the cool switch from 1 to 0 and rebooted the pc, no help.

You should be aware that once a change is made in the Windows registry is happens immediately, and no backup is automatically created. If you make one incorrect move while in the registry is may cause your computer to be deemed inoperable. If you are unaware of what you are doing and are not familiar with how the Windows registry works it's advisable to stay away from the Windows registry.

I'm going to see if I can get someone who has more experience with this sort of thing to view your thread. However, in the meantime, I highly suggest that you cease making any further changes to your Windows registry.

Best Regards,
SweetTech.

Hi Kithey,

While you have, of course, made the accurate edit in Registry to disable the alt+tab hotkey function, SweetTech is correct in cautioning to make a backup of Registry prior to editing the Registry.

You can do this by exporting and saving the specific single item that you intend change.
Or you can use the MS Registry export function to save a backup copy of your entire Registry.

The short-coming of the above, is that if you make additional changes to the Registry, or catastrophic changes that impair your ability to boot Windows, you may find yourself in need of Reinstalling Windows, at peril of losing your personal data, installed applications, updates, drivers, and current configuration of Windows.

A more comprehensive and recoverable precaution is found in the use of ERUNT, where even more than the MS-available features of Registry are completely backed up, and a recovery strategy is created.

Read about ERUNT, here: http://forums.whatthetech.com/How_backup_r…UNT_t99376.html

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As to your immediate problem,

1.
it would appear possible that your friend or someone has composed an autokey script and possibly included a "mistake".

Do the machine have an application entitled AutoHotkey.exe installed in C:\Program Files\ ?
If so you may benefit from inquiring with the owner, if they have created scripts using this application
Is there a "green colored" "H" icon in the notification area of the taskbar? If so, you have hotkey scripts available.
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2.
Or more likely, the machine is responding with the "StickyKeys" feature of Windows.

Your best bet —
Have a look at settings in Control Panel - Accessibility Options - Settings for StickyKeys

The users is not a computer savy. There is no autohotkey.exe on the machine. I cannot think why this stupid thing won't go away.

"Sticky Key" feature can be activated by mistake from fingers resting to heavily on the keyboard.
Sticky Keys are sometimes activated accidentally by pressing the same key (5) times in a row, or accidentally holding the key down in the depressed position for r seconds.

Stick Keys can be "turned off" by pressing "both" Shift keys at the same time.
or
Press Ctrl + Shift at the same time.

Consider turning off Sticky Key feature in Start - Control Panel - Accessibility Options (Ease of Access Center in Vista)