Reserve shortcut keys for MS-DOS-based programs

[Chris Vydas]

i have a 2 program that use alt and tab as specific
functions. when i press them at the same time, which
happens often, windows intercepts and switches between
programs. i do not want this to happen. i want windows to
ignore the alt+tab shortcut keystroke. how do i do this
under windows xp? under windows 95 it was simple, go to
the properties of the desired programs exe and under the
misc tab uncheck the desired shortcut keys. but this is
not windows 95, this is windows xp and i have not found a
way to do it. please help. email adress
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Don Wiss]

i have a 2 program that use alt and tab as specific
functions. when i press them at the same time, which
happens often, windows intercepts and switches between
programs. i do not want this to happen. i want windows to
ignore the alt+tab shortcut keystroke. how do i do this
under windows xp? under windows 95 it was simple, go to
the properties of the desired programs exe and under the
misc tab uncheck the desired shortcut keys. but this is
not windows 95, this is windows xp and i have not found a
way to do it.

It works the same under XP. However, it isn't easy to get the Misc tab,
where they are, to appear. One way is to use the pif file from 95. Another
is to use a batch file to start the program. Then a shortcut calling the
batch file will have it. And a third way:

1) Go to the desktop, and right click with the mouse. This pops up a
menu. Select 'New -> Shortcut'

2) Use the ‘Browse’ button to find and select the ‘command.com’ file, or
type in:

%SystemRoot%\system32\command.com

--> Note in XP you may want to use cmd.com.

Click on ‘Next’ and type in a shortcut name, then click on ‘Finish’

3) Right click on the resulting icon, and select ‘Properties’

4) Go to the ‘Program’ tab. Add the following text to the end of the
‘Cmd line:’ entry

<space>/c <path to desired file>

The entry becomes:

%SystemRoot%\system32\command.com /c C:\filename.ext

Don <donwiss at panix.com>.

 

[Guest]

thank you for the reply, though it was helpful i have a couple of problems doing this. first off the subject title is misleading, my fault. these programs are windows xp programs and not ms-dos based programs, but i still need to be able to disable the alt+tab windows shortcut keys for these keys do a command in the programs i use. secondly you suggested using cmd.com for windows xp. well cmd.com does not exist but cmd.exe does, is that what you mean? i went ahead and tried using cmd.exe and i get the same problem that i have to start with, no MISC tab. but this turns out to be irrelevant because my programs are windows programs and this method is obviously not going to work. the first 2 methods you suggested i could not understand because there are no step by step instructions on how to use pif or batch files. could you be more specific? is there another way i can get this to work? thank you.