Quickset: CAPS lock-icon steals focus (Studio 1557, x64)

Hey RoHe, thank you for your answer!

Sorry for the incomplete description, it is Windows7 Ultimate x64

I've downloaded TweakUI for x64 as suggested from you, I tried to set the compatibility to Win XP, but the only possibilities which were listed was Vista (incl, all SP), and Server 2008 SP1.

But you gave me the hint that there has to be such a setting in the registry and so i binged it.

I came to the final results:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsxp/ht/stealingfocus02.htm

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc957208.aspx

As written I set the registry-key to it's default value of 200000 (dec) and rebooted.

The problem is solved now, pressing CAPS lock no more steals focus of the active windows.

So I don't know why this key wasn't on it's default value, as I have changed nothing and also many other people have posted exactly the same problem.

But RoHe thank you for your essential hint!!

:emotion-21:

After I spend some time testing now, I'm sure that this registry key is why pressing CAPS-Lock steals focus.

But I also get to something interesting: When I start a game (tried with Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142), they reset the value of this key to 0, thus it starts annoying again.

Anybody an idea on how to prevent application to change the value of this key?

Of course there's the possibility remove permissions for this folder for all users, but if you do that, you can't change anything which goes on on the desktop as long as you do not add permissions again.

Is it really the easiest way to write a script which runs each time after a game has started, and the PC has to be restarted again.... annoying

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

You may have to fight this battle with the game makers directly. Poke around on their website and forums to see if anybody there has a solution.

You could probably create a .reg file which, when double-clicked, launches regedit and changes that key back the way you want it. I agree that would be a pain, but it would save you from having to manually launch regedit and migrate to that key every time, with the potential to mess up the registry and crash your system completely.

And you might want to look into Aero Shake which is a "hidden" feature in Win 7. Maybe it will help control focus without having to edit the registry all the time.

Ron

OK, so I'll try my best in the community forums of the game makers

I'll let you know if I know a solution although I think that I'll have to take the reg-script all the time.

Thank you Ron for your hard work :emotion-21:

Glad you found it useful :).  Yes, I did try other values.  As you said it is 4 by default, so I changed it to 1 initially and found my problem was solved.  For completeness sake I also tried 0, 2 and 3.  0 seemed to be the same as 4, 2 had a different appearance (blue) but also had a caps-lock indicator that still took focus.  3 seemed to be an equivalent to 2 (same most-significant bit?).

You got it fine shadowrunner, but I should mention fr anyone else that after setting this registry key you should either restart, or just kill the quickset.exe process and start it again (it's in program files\dell\quickset).

I too will post here if I notice anything with this new configuration.

That sounds like a reasonable solution to the problem. :emotion-21:

But, I strongly encourage you, and everyone else, to make a backup copy (File>Export) of the Regsitry before you make any changes, especially when you're experimenting like this. Otherwise, you could be heading toward a disaster of your own doing... :emotion-5:

Ron

I was also annoyed with the caps-lock indicator stealing focus.  I'm a fast typist, but not a touch typist as I regularly use caps lock to make capitals - done it that way since I was young and it's a hard habit to break!  This was especially annoying as focus would be taken from a browser, IDE or word-processor in which I was writing.   I narrowed it down to Dell QuickSet and removed it from startup in a quick burst of anger. Turns out QuickSet, whilst having some trivial features such as visible volume/brightness indicators, is quite essential for the eject button and other multimedia key functions (e.g. battery info).  I had a look on here and seeing as you ddn't get much luck with your solution, thought I'd try fiddling around with the registry myself.  I went straight to the Dell QuickSet registry keys and changed a couple, and found to my surprise, that one of them changes the appearance of the dialogs for brightness, volume, etc.  Setting this to 1 meant there was NO caps lock indicator, and the volume/brightness indicators are more colourful, and whilst I prefer the previous transparent grey ones they're not too bad. Just find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Dell Computer Corporation\QuickSet\QuickSetControl and set it to 1 Let me know what you think.  I've not tested this extensively yet, so not sure if there are any new problems to be wary of, but so far I'm happy.

Hi, I am not very computer literate - but I did find the HKEYs in the regedit thingy.

My problem though is that I cannot find the QuickSetControl

I got as far as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Dell Computer Corporation\QuickSet

but no further

do the details below help:

http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Discussions.Components.Files/3526/6254.Registry-Editor.pdf

Any ideas

Man ythanks

Hi, I am not very computer literate - but I did find the HKEYs in the regedit thingy. My problem though is that I cannot find the QuickSetControl I got as far as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Dell Computer Corporation\QuickSet but no further

Hey,

I'm not sure why there's no field for QuickSetControl, but you can try creating it yourself.

In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Dell Computer Corporation\QuickSet, right-click and select New > DWORD.  Call it QuickSetControl then double-click it to set it's value to 1.

Hope that helps,

James

I strongly encourage you to back up your registry BEFORE you start making any changes. One slip-up and you could end up having to reinstall Windows, and losing all your files.

Before making any registry changes, highlight My Computer at the top of the registry tree in the left panel. Then click File>Export and let it back up the entire registry. Make sure the backup file name has the .reg extension.

Keep the .reg file on your hard drive where you can find it and copy it onto external media (eg CD, external hard drive) until you're sure you haven't messed things up. :emotion-5:

Ron

Hi guys, many thanks for your assistance, it seems to be working now

Well, I think this is not a real solution. If we change the registry, the problem with the caps lock will be solved but we won't know when the caps lock is on. Any better ideas? Dell wants to help here maybe?