Any way to disable keyboard windows start key within FSX?

[Paul Anderson]

Every now and then I hit the windows start key by accident when looking at the screen instead of hitting Ctrl or Alt.
This causes a popup screen to appear which freezes my FSX on winxp.
Only way out is to ctrl/alt/del, kill fsx, and restart it.
I would still like to retain the start key outside of fsx for shortcuts to explorer, etc.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

[Bjoern]

Logitech has included a "lock 'Start' button" switch for this exact reason on their old G15 keyboards. (Don't know about the newer ones.)

Might be your only option...

[srgalahad]

If I read your post correctly you are using WinXP and assume running FS in "full screen" mode. (The issue appears confined to running games in full-screen, not in Windowed mode) Since I run exclusively in Windowed mode with multiple monitors and thus never had the issue I had to do a search. Thus someone else may have found an alternative to the following:


"On the fly"? not that I have found unless you are using a Microsoft keyboard with the KB-specific drivers installed. If so, this article may help you do what you want (I haven't tested it)
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000949.htm
Ostensibly you can disable the left Win key and still use the right one for it's intended purpose

If not a M$ keyboard then the same article points you to a utility called "KeyTweak" which they purport will allow you to remap/disable a key (but a reboot is apparently required each time). Note that the two "Windows" keys are treated separately.

Alternatively, here is the link to the Microsoft support doc. dealing with disabling the Windows key.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216893

[Paul Anderson]

Thanks for the replies, suspected there would be no easy solution to disable for FSX only (or 'on the fly').

Edit: more Google search found autohotkey program and references how to create a script that disables left start key alone but leaves start key combinations intact.
Sound like what I'm looking for, run script on boot (again, good enough) or create desktop icons to enable/disable when clicked (no restarts).
Will give me something to experiment with tomorrow.

Thanks for the nudge in the right direction.