Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tech note on Windows 7 keyboard oddness
Writing this to create one direct Google reference to the subject!
After switching to a nice new computer with Windows 7, I've been having a really strange problem with keystrokes. When typing in an editor or browser or web-based systems like this one, no problem at all. But in several of my older 32-bit apps, the keyboard would type four correct characters, then switch to typing consecutive numbers.
For instance, I'd try to rename a file from X.TXT to GOODNAME.TXT but the screen would show GOOD12345678 instead of the desired result. Or I'd be using the keyboard 'shortcuts' in a graphics program, and after the first four operations the screen view would start rotating madly. This appeared to be an entirely separate problem, until I remembered that the various perspectives are assigned to number keys.
The solution was found here in Techsupportforum. It's not Windows 7 as such, though I suspect it does apply to 32-bit progs running in a 64-bit system.
The real problem is a Comcast security add-on called Guarded Identity, which picks up all keystrokes and does something or other with them, allegedly to prevent hackers from watching. Uninstalling Guarded Identity solves the problem immediately and entirely. Now I'm back to my usual fast workflow! Great relief! ¶ 6:08 PM
After switching to a nice new computer with Windows 7, I've been having a really strange problem with keystrokes. When typing in an editor or browser or web-based systems like this one, no problem at all. But in several of my older 32-bit apps, the keyboard would type four correct characters, then switch to typing consecutive numbers.
For instance, I'd try to rename a file from X.TXT to GOODNAME.TXT but the screen would show GOOD12345678 instead of the desired result. Or I'd be using the keyboard 'shortcuts' in a graphics program, and after the first four operations the screen view would start rotating madly. This appeared to be an entirely separate problem, until I remembered that the various perspectives are assigned to number keys.
The solution was found here in Techsupportforum. It's not Windows 7 as such, though I suspect it does apply to 32-bit progs running in a 64-bit system.
The real problem is a Comcast security add-on called Guarded Identity, which picks up all keystrokes and does something or other with them, allegedly to prevent hackers from watching. Uninstalling Guarded Identity solves the problem immediately and entirely. Now I'm back to my usual fast workflow! Great relief! ¶ 6:08 PM
