Keyboard Lockup while tradeskilling

[Tillinghast]

I noticed my keyboard locks up quite a bit while tradeskilling and I just found out why. I thought I might share it with you.

Windows has a feature called Sticky Keys, it turns on when you hit shift twice. as you can see when tradeskilling this might be a problem if you move stacks around. There is a pop-up window that appears outside of EQ with an explanation and directions for turning it off in your Accessibility settings. If you find you are locking up in XP while playing EQ or your keyboard is not responding, you might want to look at shutting this feature off.

Tillinghast
Vendor Mule

[Neebat]

More detail about this "feature" which can make a mess of EQ

I ran into the problem several times when I first started running WinXP and hunted it down. First, some explanation, and then I'll explain how to turn these off for good.

StickyKeys, FilterKeys and ToggleKeys are accessibility features built into WindowsXP. This is a nice example of Microsoft turning on everything until you specificly tell it to stop, three times.

Microsoft assumed the key sequences to activate these functions would never happen by accident. (This is also how they gave us CTRL-ALT-DEL) Specificly, one of the features is activated if you press <Shift> 5 times in a row. Another is activated if you hold down the right <Shift> key for 8 seconds. Sound familiar? For a tradeskiller, these can be COMMON actions, and the dialog which pops up may be very disruptive to EQ. It can appear your keyboard has locked up or even crash the game.

To disable these troublesome activation buttons, go to the Start menu, select Settings, Control Panel. Select Accessibility options near the top of the list. For each of the first two sections, click the "Settings..." button and UNCHECK the "Use shortcut" box. Select "OK" and you should be done. You could turn the third one off too, but it's unlikely you'll use the <Num Lock> key that way while playing EQ.

I assume some folks with disabilities actually use these things, so be sure you aren't disabling something which will actually be used on your computer.

Use this information at your own risk and don't blame me if it turns your computer into a rampaging futon with profound halitosis.

[Kemie Dreamshadow]

I don't have XP, but several of my friends do, and have had this problem. Thanks for the tip, I'll pass it on!

Kemie Dreamshadow, Lanys