There are various reasons why you may want to disable a specific button on your keyboard.
Probably there is this button that you’ve never used intentionally and you often accidentally press it. In other cases, there is a faulty button that continuously presses itself.
Some of the popular keyboard buttons like the Windows button can be disabled using the Windows Group Policy. The Group Policy essentially provides centralized management of the Windows Operating System.
However other buttons like the function keys and other keyboard buttons cannot be disabled from the Group Policy. Disabling these other buttons requires you to edit the Registry.
But this a risky way because most times you will end up damaging the operating system if you don’t have enough knowledge of the registry and hence losing important information. This is definitely something you wouldn’t like.
Fortunately, this guide will show you steps to disable a specific button on the keyboard on Windows without having to edit the Registry by yourself. This article describes steps to disable a keyboard button with either KeyTweak or Simple Disable Key.
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KeyTweak
This a free Windows program that allows remapping and disabling keyboard buttons. With this tool, you can change a key function, for example, you can assign the tab button to do the spacing function, and then use the space button to do some other function of your choice.
With Key Tweak, you can disable a button on the keyboard permanently and as well enable the button again in case you need it. The tool can be downloaded for free at softonic
After downloading the Key Tweak, install it by double-clicking on the setup file.
If you have an antivirus installed on your computer, A warning may appear saying the program is not trusted, click on Keep running or something related to continuing with the program installation.
Some antivirus programs may automatically break the program installation. For such a case, I recommend disabling the antivirus and then install the program. After installation, you can then enable the antivirus.
Open the program after installation by clicking on the desktop shortcut created. If a shortcut is not created on the desktop, click on the start menu and search for keyTweak and open it.
To disable a button, click on the button using the on-screen keyboard displayed in the KeyTweak window.
To confirm that you have clicked on the right key, Check below the onscreen keyboard where the “Key selected” text is, for example, if you clicked on the tab button, A text will say “16 is currently mapped to TAB”.
After confirming that you’ve clicked on the right keyboard button you wish to disable, click on Disable Key. Click on Apply to apply changes and accept to reboot the computer right away.
The changes will be applied after rebooting and the button will be disabled.
To enable the disabled buttons, open KeyTweak as explained earlier, and from the navigation menu at the top, click on “Restore All Defaults” and then finally click on Apply.
This may prompt you to reboot your computer which you should do to apply changes.
Simple Disable Key
Simple Disable key is a tool for Windows users that allows you to disable a specific button or buttons on your keyboard.
Simple Disable Key has some extra features apart from just disabling a button. These include; disabling a keyboard button for a specific program (the button will only be disabled when the program is open).
The second key feature of Simple Disable Key is the ability to disable a button for a specified time say for one hour. You can as well schedule the disabling for a specific day of the week at a specified time.
For first use, the tool allows a 15-day trial after which license key is required to keep using the tool. The tool can be downloaded from majorgeeks.
Open the tool by clicking on the desktop shortcut created.
For the trial version, you’ll have to wait for the second counter to reach 0 and then click on continue.
Click on the Key field and press on the button that you wish to disable.
The pressed key will be displayed in the Key field, click on Add Key
From the next window, choose whether to disable a button always, for a particular program or schedule for a specific time.
To disable a button always, select always and click OK.
To disable a button for a particular program, select program and browse for the program in the file explorer.
To disable a button at a given time, select schedule and specify the period of time when to disable the button.
To enable disabled buttons, click on tools in the navigation bar and enable all keys.