Question : Disable Ctrl-A or Ctrl key

My Nanna has a problem with pressing the Ctrl key instead of the Shift key when typing emails, causing all sorts of things to happen while she is typing.

The most problematic is Ctrl-A, selecting all text then typing over an hour long email not knowing how to get it back.

Besides ripping the Ctrl key off the keyboard, is there a way of disabling it in Windows 98?  Win 2000/XP has a keymapping feature in the registry but I can't find anything for windows 98!  :((

Any help much appreciated!

Answer : Disable Ctrl-A or Ctrl key

There is a free program you can download called AutoHotkey that you can use to automate many tasks in many different ways.  One of the things it does very easily is remap keys on the keyboard.  You download the program here:

http://www.autohotkey.com/

After you install the program, you can read the documentation built into it to learn how to "program" the remapping of keys.  The scripts you create can be "compiled" into .exe files which can then be run at system startup by creating a shortcut in the Startup folder on the Start Menu.

This is a quotation from the builtin help file about remapping keys:

The syntax for the built-in remapping feature is OriginKey::DestinationKey. For example, a script consisting only of the following line would make the "a" key behave like the "b" key:

a::b

The above example does not alter the "b" key itself. The "b" key would continue to send the "b" keystroke


To disable a key rather than remapping it, make it a hotkey that simply returns. For example, F1::return would disable the F1 key.