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When I use ALT key, for instance ALT + TAB if I press ALT key for 2 seconds then it will act as pressed for additional 2 seconds(up to 3 seconds) as it was pressed. This means that the selected application will not be brought up to focu immediately and also will cause accidental combinations to be selected.

Sticky keys are turned off. Here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/holding-alt-down-makes-it-stick/4ae39e59-93ab-47ca-ac4b-2f2e22378d9d somebody reports the same bug, but no resolution is provided.

I wish my keyboard to stop applying ALT mask as soon as I release the key.

EDIT: It happens on all keyboards using both radio receiver or bluetooth, it happens regardless of the application but the most prominent example is using ALT+TAB in Windows 11.

Yoda
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  • Do you by chance have a Microsoft Keyboard? Like the question here https://superuser.com/q/1075782/368970 – Yisroel Tech Jun 01 '23 at 08:14
  • Have you tried cleaning the keyboard ? – harrymc Jun 01 '23 at 08:54
  • A long Alt press can also be used to toggle some other features. See https://superuser.com/questions/1075782/holding-down-the-alt-key-for-several-seconds-makes-keyboard-behave-strangely , for example – DrMoishe Pippik Jun 01 '23 at 16:48
  • Have you seen these https://superuser.com/questions/956049/control-key-acts-as-if-it-is-stuck-periodically – 1NN Jun 14 '23 at 12:09
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    try using a different keyboard, to determine if it's a hardware or a software issue – 1NN Jun 14 '23 at 12:10
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    Does it happen all the time? On specific applications? Try pressing long ALT here to see if that's hardware problem; https://www.keyboardtester.com/tester.html – Netan Jun 14 '23 at 12:15
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    @Yoda: You have added a bounty, but have not answered any of the above comments. Please do answer them. – harrymc Jun 14 '23 at 13:25
  • As @Netan said, could be hardware issues. Maybe the switch requires lubrication or a spring change. This happened to my Windows key as well and the solution is simply changing the switch and the problem is gone. I would recommend this site: https://keyboard-test.space/ as it shows the current key press state. – PlanetCloud Jun 14 '23 at 15:27
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    Do you have a different keyboard? If you replace and test with that one, does it too have the problem? Have you confirmed all Windows Updates are installed, have you tried resetting any keyboard settings to default, have you checked for firmware updates to BIOS with your computer? Could be a hardware problem so test with a different keyboard while the other is disconnected, and go ahead and reboot too for additional thoroughness. Make sure Windows Updates are not pending install or download too, resolve and update all that, reboot, test with different keyboard, then [edit] to add more detail. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jun 16 '23 at 22:46
  • @Yoda hasn't intervened on this post since June 14, when he received an AI-generated "answer". [link](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/389834/statement-from-so-june-5-2023-moderator-action?cb=1) – harrymc Jun 19 '23 at 07:47
  • @harrymc what does AI-generated have to do with it? He also didn't answer any of the comment questions since June 1st... – Yisroel Tech Jun 19 '23 at 11:03
  • Have a look at the edit. – Yoda Jun 19 '23 at 11:26
  • If it happens with all keyboards, do you have any software that may alter how Alt works? AutoHotkey or anything alike. – Destroy666 Jun 19 '23 at 11:34
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    @Yoda: Welcome back. Please try it when booting in Safe mode. – harrymc Jun 19 '23 at 15:08

1 Answers1

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As this happens on multiple keyboards and applications, and even in Windows itself, the problem must be related to software and not to hardware. As this is not a feature of Windows, I would guess that it's caused by some installed third-party product.

To verify this assumption, you could boot in Safe Mode and see if this fixes the problem. If it is fixed, then this is the proof that some third-party application is responsible for it.

To locate the problematic application, you may use the free tool Autoruns for Windows.

This utility shows all programs configured to run during system boot or login in its "Everything" tab. You may turn off startup items with a click and return them later with another click. You may avoid listing Microsoft products by using the menu Options > Hide Microsoft Entries, Hide Empty Locations and Hide Windows Entries

I would suggest turning off startup entries in bunches, drilling down to the startup program that causes this behavior and rebooting. Once identified, it might have some setting that can avoid the problem, or can be left out of startup and only be invoked when required (verify that once invoked it does not add another startup entry, but such can again be disabled by Autoruns).

You should start with applications that may relate to facilitate the handling of the keyboard.

harrymc
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