Restoring standard function key settings

Robert Moore

I just installed a small software application -- nothing to do with BricsCAD. Coincidently, I can no longer use the function keys F3 to toggle entity snap and F8 to toggle ortho (the standard BCAD/AutoCAD settings for these functions). And, curiously the F3 key is remapped to 'redo', F8 is remapped to nothing, and F2 is mapped to 'undo'. I can't seem to figure out how to remap these function keys back to their standard use. I've looked through all the customize stuff and can find nothing there. In fact I only see a coupld of function keys listed there and they are all modified (shift = F2, etc., for example). Needless to say I have uninstalled the other software. I even did a repair reinstall of BricsCAd...to no avail. Could someone help? (perhaps I have to do an uninstall of BCAD, then a reinstall???

Thanks for any help., Robert

Louis_Verdonck

To restore default settings (= to undo all customizing), click the 'Revert to defaults...' button on the CUSTOMIZE dialog (choose Customize in the Tools menu).

Anthony Apostolaros

Does the re-mapping affect other applications? For example, does F2 undo the last thing you typed or pasted in your word processor or in Notepad, or the last file you deleted in Windows Explorer?

Robert Moore

Anthony. You are absolutely correct! The remapping seems to have affected the word processor as well (Word, and Wordpad tested - F2 deletes  (or undoos) the previous action)...so the problem is more global than BricsCAD???. And in response to Mr. Verdonck's response, I tried the 'revert to defaults' item, and it made no changes. So, Is there a way of reverting the Windows keys to defaults??? Wouild appreciate your response. Again, thanks for your kindnesses in helping  me!

Thanks, Robert

Anthony Apostolaros

You have a program that starts up automatically and intercepts keystrokes and changes the codes they send to the operating system. Sounds like it was part of the "small application" but it didn't get uninstalled. There should be a notification icon for it (in the notification area on the far right end of the taskbar).

Robert Moore

Sorry to be a bother, Anthony, but I could find no notification icon at the far right end of the taskbar. Si, I reinstalled the 'small application' - actually it is RecoverPlus Pro (for recovering photo files that were deleted or damaged on a flash memory card), then I uninstalled it. My rationale, this would reset the system. Alas, this did not fix the problem. For what it is worth, I reviewed standard key combinations such as Alt + F4 and Ctrl + F4 in both BCAD and Word. Alt + F4 does NOT close the application (in either); Ctrl + F4 Opens a new file in the application, It does not close a file, as it used to.

I don't wish to burden you, but do you think a reinstall/repair of windows might help?

Regards, Robert

Anthony Apostolaros

You don't have any notification icons at all? Or do you mean none for RecoverPro Plus? Any program that's running but doesn't display a window on the desktop and a button on the taskbar is supposed to display an icon in the notification area to let you know it's running, though I think the programmer can choose to break that rule. You must have some of these, at least for your anti-virus software and for some hardware, and most compters have a dozen or more of them. Do you recognize all of them? Usually you can right-click on each one and learn more about it.

I don't think repairing Windows will help, because this probably isn't something that's broken. It sounds like an installed program that's doing what it's supposed to do. You have to find it and uninstall it. But it might be hard to find. It might not be called RecoverPlus Pro. It might be another program that gets installed along with RPP. Or it might have gotten installed in some other way at about the same time and have nothing to do with RPP. Some other things to try:

--What this mystery program is doing is called trapping or logging keystrokes or scan codes and altering or substituting or re-mapping them; or keyboard macro recording and playback. You might re-install RecoverPlus Pro and see whether its help screens say anything about that, or email their support to ask if it installs any software to do that. Or do the same with any other recently installed software.

--There should be a folder in C:/Program Files that contains the executable files for this mystery program. It might be a sub-folder under "Accessories." It might not be there, but it's easy to check since those folders have date stamps and you can just look at the newest ones. Sort them chronologically by clicking on the "Modified" heading in My Computer or Windows Explorer.

--Look through the list of installed programs in Start>Programs (right-click on Start or on Programs, and select Open), or in the Add/Remove Programs control panel, to see if there's anything there that you don't recognize.

--Any program that's running usually appears in the Applications or Processes tab of Task Manager. I think it's hard to keep a running program off those lists. The only problem is there'll be a lot of processes that you won't recognize and so you'll have to do internet research to find out what each one is. It would help to run Task Manager after manually closing everything in the taskbar and the notification area, so as to minimize the number of applications and processes in the lists. Task Manager is a program called taskmgr.exe, or you can probably run it by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del once.

--The System Configuration Utility should show everything that's set to run automatically when you boot up. It's msconfig.exe, or Start>Run and type msconfig. The general tab shows which of the other tabs will be included in the boot configuration. Again, some long lists to look through. You might experiment by un-checking anything in the Startup and Services tabs that you think might be the mystery program, and then re-booting to see if the problem is still there. You probably shouldn't uncheck anything listed as being manufactured by Microsoft or by your hardware manufacturer.

--It's possible that this key code alteration can be done using the Windows registry instead of an autorun program. I don't know if it can in fact be done that way, but if it can then RPP might have made the changes to the registry and then forgotten to change them back on uninstall. There are shareware registry-editing tools that can help with that, but I've never tried them. I just use Regedit, but that would be difficult and dangerous for something like this.

--You could try intentionally installing a different keyboard macro utility. Maybe it'll override what the mystery program is doing. Or maybe it'll tell you what the mystery program is, and maybe even offer to get rid of it. I use one called Keyboard Express, which is very good and safe to use and can be tried for free for 30 days and then uninstalled without leaving a mess.