Microsoft <i>are</i> the creators of the Blue Screen of Death, but we ought to be able to expect basic keyboard functionality from their operating systems, shouldn't we? Modifier keys sticking in Windows 8 (and other maladies)

Sunday, July 20

Microsoft are the creators of the Blue Screen of Death, but we ought to be able to expect basic keyboard functionality from their operating systems, shouldn't we? Modifier keys sticking in Windows 8 (and other maladies)

As a long-time user of Microsoft operating systems, I've done my fair share of troubleshooting. But a problem cropped up early last year in Windows 8 that's been impossible to solve (though it was quiet for much of 2013). Searches show that it's been plaguing users running other versions of Windows as far back as 2006. Even the new Surface tablets are not immune.

Without warning or any discernable trigger, one or more modifier keys stick virtually. They're not sticking physically; the keyboard is clean and the keys work fine normally. (And yes, Sticky Keys are disabled.)

Often only restarting Explorer, singing out, or restarting will correct the issue.

(I've also experienced certain keys not working -- usually C, V, and H -- unless Shift is held down. Normally when this occurs, they'll work in some programs (like Notepad) but not in others (Firefox, Chrome, or the Metro Start screen).)

I've tried a variety of suggestions. Nothing's worked, not even a Repair Install for the tyrannical and broken Update 1. And Microsoft's support is worthless. Last night, one tech never appeared before transferring me to someone else. That tech seemed unable or unwilling to address the issue. And when I finally found someone competent, the Send button in the chat window stopped working, so I couldn't communicate with him.

Microsoft are the creators of the Blue Screen of Death, but we ought to be able to expect basic keyboard functionality in their operating systems, shouldn't we?

(Perhaps someone can let Satya Nadella know so that he can put an engineer or two on fixing this. And the fact that Windows Updates sometimes refuse to install if you've modified your Start Menu folders. Yes, the Start Menu that doesn't officially exist in Windows 8.)

Below is a complete listing of every workaround I've attempted (with observations; failures are crossed out) for keys sticking virtually in Windows 8 and 8.1 over the last one and one-half years:

Clean install of Windows 8.1: System ran cleanly for a week. Installed Java (for LibreOffice) and PowerDVD, played some of a movie file, quit, and the Windows key locked (though it wasn't visible on either touch keyboard). Right Windows key?

Coming out of sleep, Windows key was stuck. Opened G700 Logitech Gaming Software to see if key assignments had disappeared again. Started recording a MultiKey Macro and found that the right Windows key was stuck. This keyboard has no right Windows key.

After a few Lock Screens, the right Windows key released.

Then, C, V, and H stopped working in Chrome without the Shift key, and unable to search in Start screen.

Someone suggested that Chrome waiting to install an update was the problem, but this install was up-to-date.

Checked Windows Update; several are waiting to be installed.

(Get keyboard with right Windows key?)

Used KeyTweak to remap RWin to RCtrl. Windows also updated.

So far, so good ....

~~Uninstalled iTunes, Bonjour, Apple Software ....~~

~~Uninstalled Unity Web Player ....~~

~~Remove SetPoint, use X-Mouse~~

~~Disabled T650's SetPoint Zoom in and out~~

Press the right Windows key (None on this keyboard, so I can't try it.)

The malfunctions seem to occur often with Windows and Flash updates and/or YouTube videos (whether Firefox or Chrome).

~~Disable Microsoft Input Configuration Device~~

~~Keep keyboard in front of receiver (not blocked by television~~

~~Disable "Turn on Toggle Keys" and "Turn on Toggle Keys by holding down the NUM LOCK key for 5 seconds."~~

~~Unplug USB mouse (Event Viewer reporting angle errors)~~

~~Remove all keyboards from Device Manager, reboot~~

~~Pressing Ctrl and +~~

~~Press any Function key~~

~~Uninstall Logitech drivers and software~~; use X-Mouse

End jusched.exe in Task Manager

~~Moved DiNovo Edge USB receiver from USB hub to motherboard USB port~~

~~Removed T650 USB receiver~~

~~Disabled Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service~~

~~Killed Origin~~

~~Tapped Shift and Alt~~

Update of English Input Personalization Dictionary causing sticking?

~~Don't use Windows Magnifier~~

~~Uninstalled Classic Shell, ModernMix, and SkyShellEx.~~

~~Okay, so that didn't work. Alarms is gone, and still the keys locked. It was after a long time, and I got a low memory warning. Chrome was running along with iTunes, Origin, and Magnifier.~~

~~Pressing keys on physical and virtual keyboards -- and switching virtual keyboards -- seems to have worked ... temporarily.~~

~~PowerDVD, USB device, Logitech or Touch processes~~

~~Killing BZTRANSMIT64.EXE or BONJOUR released Win key. (Then it reappeared stuck in Touch Keyboard -- but not physically -- until switching to another Touch Keyboard)~~

~~Killing Bonjour, some Logitech processes, and turning the keyboard on and off made a difference (this time).~~

A pointer device did not report a valid unit of angular measurement?

A pointer device has no information about the monitor it is attached to?

A multi-touch device reported inconsistent contact information?

USB issue failing to load drivers?

~~VLC?~~ Windows Update? ~~Bztransmit64.exe? (overloaded system?)~~

Disable Intel xHCI mode (?) Enabled USB Legacy Support. Disabling Fast Boot in BIOS not an option with current motherboard; perhaps powering off computer completely (in order to access BIOS; did it clear a conflict Windows 8.1 was saving from restart to restart?) and/or enabling USB Legacy Support might have solved (?) the problem.

~~Disabled Sleep~~

~~Removed unknown from Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language\Language options\Input Method~~

~~Uninstalled VirtualBox~~

~~Tap Win (Ctrl, Shift, Alt, hardware and virtual) several times~~

~~Detached G700 and T650 TouchPad~~

~~Removed Logitech extensions from Firefox, Chrome, and IE. Both browsers have been running for hours. The computer's entered and exited sleep several times.~~

~~Uninstalled Zune, iMon~~

After a Windows Update, no problems for a couple of days. (2/17/13)

~~https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/948889~~

~~Uninstalled WizMouse~~

~~Uninstalled Firefox~~

~~Uninstalled and removed all traces of Logitech software (except Harmony); old versions conflicting? IE and Firefox extensions conflicting?~~

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/2678-63-ctrl-stuck-because-mouse-buttons-assignments

~~Twice keys stuck when removing DiNovo from base.~~

~~Desktop icons starting to stick; using On-screen Keyboard to press NumLock released them. Great!~~

~~Signed-in to LastPass?~~

~~Press Shift and type with On-Screen keyboard?~~

NumLock on in Accessibility On-Screen Keyboard?

~~Update Classic Shell?~~

~~Remove extra keyboards from Device Manager?~~

~~Device Manager, Human Interface Devices, disable Microsoft Input Configuration Device?~~

Hold F12 and Numlock (Numlock not present on DiNovo but is enabled on On-screen keyboard)?

~~Uninstall BetterDesktopTool? Dexpot?~~

~~Hold both Ctrl keys for five seconds?~~

Hold Ctrl + Shift for 15 seconds to release modifier key lock?

Press Fn and Ctrl keys?

~~Press Ctrl and Alt keys?~~

Hold both shift keys and F7 together for several seconds?

~~Control Panel, Language, Advanced Settings, Change Language Bar hot keys, Advanced Key Settings?~~

Press function key (e.g., F2), then Ctrl?

Shut down, remove AC power, hold power button for 30 seconds?

~~Remove tweak programs?~~

Hold both control keys at same time to reset keyboard BIOS?

Stop Human Interface Device Access service (hidserv)?

~~Enabled Microsoft Keyboard Filter (Services)~~

On the fall of Constantinople

"[...] the great church of Hagia Sophia was filled to capacity. Thousands of people were moving towards the church. Inside, Orthodox and Catholic priests were holding liturgy, the last Christian service after almost 1,000 years. People were singing hymns, others were openly crying, others were asking each other for forgiveness [...].

"Bands of Ottoman soldiers began now looting. Doors were broken, private homes were looted, their tenants were massacred. Shops in the city markets were looted. Monasteries and Convents were broken in. Their tenants were killed, nuns were raped; many, to avoid dishonor, killed themselves. Killing, raping, looting, burning, enslaving, went on and on [...].

"The great doors of Hagia Sophia were forced open, and crowds of angry soldiers came in and fell upon the unfortunate worshippers. Pillaging and killing in the holy place went on for hours. Similar was the fate of worshippers in most churches in the city [...].

"Thousands of civilians were enslaved, soldiers fought over young boys and young women [...] the invaders broke the heads of those women who resisted on the floor of the churches and they raped them dead. The famous icon of Apostole Loukas was totally destroyed.

"The sultan asked for the young sons of Duke Loukas Notaras. Their father refused and Mehmed was ready to take their heads. Notaras asked him to kill him after his sons so that he was sure that they were dead and not disgraced from the pervert sultan.

"And this is what happened."

Black Tuesday, The Last Day of the World, the twenty-ninth of May, anno Domini MCDLIII

On American Liberty

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, 1776

"The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of it's benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind."

Thomas Jefferson to Moses Robinson Washington, Mar. 23, 1801

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800

The truth about Mahomet

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

"A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property -- either as a child, a wife, or a concubine -- must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science -- the science against which it had vainly struggled -- the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."

Winston Churchill, Churchill, Winston S. (1899), The River War, First edition, Vol. II, pp. 248-250

A war of twelve hundred years

"And he [Jesus] declared, that the enjoyment of felicity in the world hereafter, would be reward of the practice of benevolence here. His whole law was resolvable into the precept of love; peace on earth – good will toward man, was the early object of his mission; and the authoritative demonstration of the immortality of man, was that, which constituted the more than earthly tribute of glory to God in the highest [...] The first conquest of the religion of Jesus, was over the unsocial passions of his disciples. It elevated the standard of the human character in the scale of existence. [...] On the Christian system of morals, man is an immortal spirit, confined for a short space of time, in an earthly tabernacle. Kindness to his fellow mortals embraces the whole compass of his duties upon earth, and the whole promise of happiness to his spirit hereafter. THE ESSENCE OF THIS DOCTRINE IS, TO EXALT THE SPIRITUAL OVER THE BRUTAL PART OF HIS NATURE.

[...]

“In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE

[...]

"Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant. [...] While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men.”

John Quincy Adams, Blunt, Joseph (1830),The American Annual Register for the Years 1827-8-9, pp. 268-269

Impossible Islamophobia

Nearly one and one-half millennia of slavery, rape, and slaughter in Allah's name ...

80% of American -- not Pakistani, not Saudi Arabian, not Iranian, but American -- mosques teach jihad/Islamic supremacism ...

Nearly twenty-seven thousand documented jihad attacks since 9/11 alone, and ...

Islam's "Ideal Man" Muhammad -- Allah's "beautiful pattern of conduct" for those who want to please it -- preached and practiced genocide, pedophilia, rape, slavery, torture, mutilation, anti-Semitism, theft, extortion, arson, wife-beating, polygyny, religious and gender apartheid, sedition, treason, deceit, and blasphemy and warned his devotees that "Allah made me do it, and you will too, or else!"

No, "Islamophobia" is impossible. Merely pointing out simple facts regarding a genocidal, malevolent, and totalitarian ideology is neither phobic nor intolerant. It is highly rational and moral.

We are in only the latest phase of an ancient and existential struggle, Allah's war against humanity.

Speaking the truth in love

Never surrender

"we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone [...].

"we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end [...] we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender [...]."

Winston Churchill to the House of Commons, June 4, 1940