Microsoft takes three decades to make Sticky Keys less sticky
Windows testers are getting a new option in the Sticky Keys and Filter Keys dialogs – one to banish the pop-ups without needing to venture deep into Settings. It’s only taken several decades for Microsoft to put the off switch where the interruption actually happens. The accessibility features themselves are useful, though triggering their activation prompts by accident is another matter. Once enabled, Sticky Keys let users press modifier keys (such as Control) one at a time instead of holding them down together. For example, rather than holding Control and pressing C to copy, a user can press and release Control, then press C. Filter Keys, meanwhile, ignores brief or repeated keystrokes and adjusts the keyboard’s repeat behavior. However, the dialogs are of little use to people who don’t need the features, and they can pop up at the most inconvenient moments. Tap Shift five times, and you’ll see what we mean: Windows chimes and shows a dialog asking whether you’d like to turn on Sticky Keys. Dismiss it, hit Shift five times, and there it is again…