Weird tech question

[vvvexation]

My work machine has started doing this weird thing where, whenever I hit the Tab key, it responds as if I'd hit Alt-Tab. It's not behaving this way with respect to any other keys--windows don't close when I hit F4, for example. And it seems to have come on gradually--that is, a few days ago it wasn't doing this, but when I tried to hit Tab to post LJ comments from my email, it would jump to the top of the screen instead of tabbing over to the Post button--and now it's doing this instead.

I have no idea if this is a problem with the keyboard or a problem with the OS, and if it's the latter, I have no idea how to even begin to fix it. Does anyone else?

Edit: I hit Alt-Tab a couple of times to see whether or not that would still have the usual effect, and after that the Tab key seemed to work normally again. Thanks to everyone who offered advice, though; I'll keep it in mind if something similar happens again.

Comments

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

This happens to me every so often as well. I have no idea of the cause.

Sometimes I can open a putty window and paste the contents of the buffer there and that will clear things up. Odd, but true.

Good luck.

[deyo.livejournal.com]

Check to see if any Accessibility Options are turned on under the Control Panel.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

They aren't, but even if they were, I don't think that would account for it.

[deyo.livejournal.com]

StickyKeys can change the way Alt behaves. If it were on, and you had hit Alt earlier, Tab would become Alt-Tab. If not, I'm already stumped. ;)

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Note where I specifically stated that none of the other keys were behaving as if Alt was sticky.

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

Try cleaning your keyboard. Really, even if Alt isn't acting sticky for other keys. If that fails, try tsgeisel's solution, or the Universal Windows Corrective, rebooting.

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Can you borrow a different keyboard from somebody so you can at least figure out if it's the keyboard or the computer?

[duane-kc.livejournal.com]

What OS? I've noticed in WinXP, if I *cancel* starting StickyKeys, (I have a bad habit of holding down Shift while I'm talking to customers; I do phone support) it corrupts the keyboard driver, and I have to reboot to get the damn keyboard to work at all.