F lock will not stay on

  • Thread starter Thread starter W E B G U R L
  • Start date Start date
W

W E B G U R L

When I start-up ,re-boot, the F lock key turns off. Can I set this some where in XP to
stay on all the time?

Thanks
 
W E B G U R L said:
When I start-up ,re-boot, the F lock key turns off. Can I set this some
where in XP to
stay on all the time?
Click to expand...


Nope. That's the "joy" of some idiot designer that thought alternate F keys
had some purpose as opposed to the majority of users that just want F keys
to be just F keys. Every time the keyboard gets powered and reset, the F
Lock goes off (because resetting returns it to the non-FLock state).
Everytime you start Windows, you'll have to remember to hit the F Lock
button so your F keys behave as F keys.

Some keyboards let you define the alt F keys using near equivalent F key
definitions but they don't always work in some applications (i.e., those
that look for scan codes rather than key codes).

I used to have the Logitech Navigator keyboard BEFORE they stupidly added
the F-Lock feature later
(http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2166,CONTENTID=6006).
When I had to replace the keyboard, the later Navigator keyboard had the
F-lock feature and I hated it. Microsoft screws up the same way.
Eventually I decided to discard all the fancy extras that keyboard makers
shove into their products to qualify keeping their prices up and just got a
Microsoft keyboard
(http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=021)
that did NOT have the F-Lock feature along with a good feel.

Hopefully the F-Lock craze will pass which is apparently only a marketing
gimmick to qualify some reason on why to keep keyboard prices up (like VCR
and DVD players addings tons of gimmicks that don't get used just so they
can qualify the higher price over a base unit). The market saturates so the
makers have to add gimmicks to get the existing market to buy some more and
to give some reason why their price is higher than a bare unit.

If I want more functions in a keyboard, I'll get one with *extra* buttons
that I can program - but leave the F keys alone, damn it! Until the
insanity marketing gimmick subsides, I'll get keyboards WITHOUT the F-Lock
function.
 
W E B G U R L said:
When I start-up ,re-boot, the F lock key turns off. Can I set this some
where in XP to
stay on all the time?
Click to expand...

I believe this is down entirely to the keyboard itself. :(

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*
 
With Win 98 never a problem. Now with my upgrade to XP Pro it happens - ahh technology!




| | > When I start-up ,re-boot, the F lock key turns off. Can I set this some
| > where in XP to
| > stay on all the time?
|
| I believe this is down entirely to the keyboard itself. :(
|
| --
| Paul Smith,
| Yeovil, UK.
| Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
| http://www.windowsresource.net/
|
| *Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*
|
 
W E B G U R L said:
Can I set this some where in XP to
stay on all the time?
Click to expand...

Not in XP. You must train hand of your choice to automatically hit F lock
key on startup.
 
W said:
With Win 98 never a problem. Now with my upgrade to XP Pro it happens - ahh technology!
Click to expand...

The new keyboards don't do that. Upgrade your keyboard to the "new
technology".

Alias

Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.
Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.
 
on MS keyboards, the flock key "state" is controlled within the KB only,
you can't progamatically set it from the pc. it turns off w/ each
restart.

you can easily pop up a reminder each time you log in tho.

1) create a file w/ notepad named FLOCKMSG.VBS, with this one line:

MsgBox "Don't forget to turn on F Lock at startup!", 64, "Reminder"

save it somewhere, let's say C:\FLOCKMSG.VBS

2) create a new shortcut on the desktop (right-click | new | shortcut) w/
this "target" line:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\wscript.exe C:\flockmsg.vbs

double check that the drive+path match your machine [\windows might be
\winnt on upgraded machines].

3) try it by double clicking it; you should get a popup reminder window
with a beep.

4) drag that shortcut into the start menu's Startup folder, so that it
runs each time the system is started. voila!
 
One of the MVP's in here, quite a long time ago, gave me a link to a
website that had a little program to disable the F Lock switch on the
keyboard so it would always boot to the standard F keys. Sorry I do
not remember who, or which file but I know it's there somewhere.
 
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