The Anonymous Widower

Alien Keystrokes

I got in a real mess yesterday with Word.  I hit a key like control-shift-something and Word formatted everything in something truly alien and wouldn’t let me delete anything at all.  In the end, I had to completely retype a two-page document.

I now use a  Logitech Cordless Keyboard and Mouse, which is better than that of the laptop but I am still making mistakes. Small ones like capitalisation I can correct, but these control keystrokes just move me into am unwanted wildeness. I want to cut them out selectively.

I’ve just e-mailed Logitech, to see if they have any ideas.  Here’s what I said.

I have Logitech cordless Desktop EX110.  I have no issues with the product, but as I have had a couple of strokes, I find that I keep mixing the control, shirt, alt and Windows keys.  This is a typical problem and several of my disabled friends say they get the same problem. It is a real pain in something like Word where combinations like control-shift-C drastically affect the way the program works.

As a programmer for nearly 50 years, the solution is to be able to disable caps lock, control, alt and the Windows key.  Do you have a keyboard driver that does this.  Ideally, it would still allow certain keystrokes with control to be selectively allowed, as I use control-C etc. for cut, copy and paste.

Thanks.  I shall post the quest for a perfect stroke-friendly keyboard on my blog.

Let’s hope they have a solution!

June 23, 2010 Posted by | Computing | | 1 Comment

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

I have found a full list here on Microsoft’s web site.

But I reaaly need some way of turning them off, or at least restricting them to the ones I want, to solve my keyboard problems.

One that seems to have caught me out is using the Windows key with L. This locks the computer.

June 21, 2010 Posted by | Computing | , | Leave a comment

Stroke-Friendly Keyboard

I know it will get better with practice, but my typing annoys me!

I usually hit the right key, or one that a spell-checker will correct, but it is the caps lock, shift and control keys that are the problem. For example :-

  1. I sometimes hit the caps lock instead of shift and get everything in caps.  That is very rude in an e-mail and one has to have standards doesn’t one!
  2. I do a lot of shift characters by using two fingers of the right hand, rather than shift with the left hand and and the character with the right.  But thinking back, I’ve always done this to a certain extent, but really I shouldn’t as it’s ignoring getting the left hand back in good form.
  3. I sometimes, hold the shift down with my left hand and not release it for the next characters.  So I end up having to retype a whole phrase or sentence.
  4. But the major problem is that as the control and shift are so close together, I sometimes use control instead of shift.  As control with a character has a meaning in most programs like Word or Internet Explorer,I tend to get in a mess, with all sorts of unwanted actions being carried out.

These problems are caused because the keys are so close together on my laptop, but even on a 2005-vintage Dell keyboard, I get the same problems.

I thought about disabling the control stroke, but that would mean I couldn’t use control-C and control-V for cut and paste.  Old habits die hard.

How about the shift, control and old keys being something like piano keys on the edge of the keyboard.

Has anybody got a better solution?

June 21, 2010 Posted by | Computing, World | , | 5 Comments

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