Disable Certain Keys on Keyboard in Windows 10 PC

You can occasionally discover yourself repeatedly typing or clicking on the wrong key while using a computer keyboard. You may be out of practice or it may be because the atmosphere you’re used to working in has changed. On a keyboard, pressing the incorrect key can be very unpleasant. Even though most keyboards are standard, certain apps don’t, and pressing a specific key or key combination causes an undesirable event to occur.

When particular keys are touched, some apps can start up undesirable processes. What if that key also happens to be easily reachable and you use the app frequently? For instance, the system would freeze if you pressed that key. Of course, you’d be curious to know how to turn off the keyboard key. Capslock is a prime illustration of a frustrating key.

One more cause could be to disable a stuck key that causes problems and can’t be repaired or replaced in the meantime. Changing keys on laptops can be costly. Or it can be a key not meant to be used but neighboring to another and often pressed because the keyboard is too small.

Whatever the reasons, there are circumstances wherein keyboard keys need to be disabled. If you happen to be stuck in that predicament, you have come to the right place. As we will discuss, in this article, how to disable certain keys on a keyboard in Windows 10 PC.

Step 1: Download & Install Autohotkey

We require the Autohotkey program to disable keyboard keys. Essentially, it functions more like a programming language for the creation of keyboard shortcuts for various activities. Although it might be more valuable for other things, we’ll use it here to disable one or more troublesome keys for our needs.

Download the recent version and run the installer that you downloaded from the website. It’s an open-source tool that is safe and legitimate. It has the endorsement of Norton Safe Web. Download the most recent version now.

Select Express Installation to simplify things when the installer starts. There is no need to launch the installation because it is quick. The application will be installed in your system tray and will run every time Windows begins. No shortcut will appear on your desktop.

Step 2: Know the Reference Names of Keys

You must study how Autohotkey recognizes each key on your keyboard because it is a scripting language. You only need to learn the names that the software uses to refer to specific keys for our needs. Go to their documentation page first, then make a list of the keys you wish to turn off. You can return at any time to learn more.

Let’s disable the bothersome Capslock key in this example. It is referred to as CapsLock with an uppercase L in Autohotkey. However, keep in mind that users of Windows IME or users of other languages may experience difficulties. This implies that English is the language you type in. Copy the reference name if you have a different key in mind.

Step 3: Create an Autohotkey Script File

Activate any text editor. You can use notepad in this instance. Enter the reference name, two colons, and the letter “return” after typing or pasting it. Such as CapsLock::return

Simply add more lines if you need to disable more keys.

CapsLock::return

LWin::return

Del::return

Save the script now, but don’t forget to give it a.ahk extension. Don’t forget to select All Files as the file type. Such as DisableKeys.ahk

Step 4: Disable Certain Keys on your Keyboard

Navigate to the script’s stored location. You’ll notice that the file icon now resembles a document with a big H. To run the file, double-click it.

When Autohotkey is running, the green icon for it will show up in the system tray. The keys we mentioned in the script will prevent any input from those keys. Use the keys that aren’t working. It has successfully disabled the keys if they don’t function.

Step 5: Edit the Script

Simply right-click on the system tray icon and choose “Edit this Script” to modify the list of disabled keys. Add more keys or make them functional again by deleting lines. To make changes effective, right-click on the system tray icon and choose “Reload this Script” after making changes and saving them.

Step 6: Run the Script Automatically on the Startup

You must double-click the script file once again when you restart your computer the following time. Simply move or copy the script file to the Windows Startup folder to have this happen automatically. In the first place, open an Explorer window and go to the folder where the script file is located. Press Win+R again to bring up the Run dialog box. Enter “%AppData%” and then hit “OK.” Go to the Microsoft Windows Startup folder under Programs. Copy the script file from the previous Explorer window, then paste it into the Startup folder.

Step 7: Re-enable All Keys

Right-click the system tray icon and choose to Suspend Hot Keys or just Exit the software to reactivate all the keys.

Normally Annoying keys

Manufacturers occasionally like to design their keyboards differently. Particularly in the early 2000s, when the strange placements of the hibernate and power keys next to the page navigation keys or the location of the huge Delete keys on some Lenovo keyboards were peculiar. Sometimes the left Ctrl should be where the Fn keys should be. Or a power button directly above the Esc key on the top. Nowadays, there are so many unusual keyboard layouts that understanding how to deactivate a keyboard key is essential. Here are some frequently irritating keys together with their reference names so you can avoid having to look them up.

If you want the numeric pad to just have numeric characters:

Conclusion:

And that is how to disable specific keyboard keys on a Windows 10 computer. You will no longer be stuck with annoying keyboard keys. Having to deal with these is easy and handy.

Also Read: How to Delete or Clear Keyboard History on Android

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