Activate FilterKeys

In Windows XP, FilterKeys option is found on the Keyboard Tab of the Accessibility Options dialog box in Control panel.

To activate FilterKeys in Windows XP, do the following:

1. Click on the Start button and select Control Panel. The Control Panel window appears.
2. In Control Panel, ensure that Classic view is selected. (All Control Panel icons are visible.) To switch to Classic view, click on Switch to Classic View from the left pane of the Control Panel window.
   
   Enlarge Control Panel image (Opens in a New Window)
3. Double-click the Accessibility Options icon. The Accessibility Options dialog box appears.
4. From the Keyboard tab, select the Use FilterKeys check box.
   
   Enlarge Accessibility Options dialog box image (Opens in a New Window)
5. Click on the Apply button and then click on the OK button to close the Accessibility Options dialog box.
6. Close the Control Panel Window.

Thus, one can activate FilterKeys and instruct the computer to ignore repeated keystrokes and increase the duration before a key press is accepted. We’ll discuss how to set the time for ignoring repeated keystrokes and accepting a key press a bit later.

Try it yourself

With the FilterKeys option turned on, let’s activate the Run dialog box using the keyboard:

1. Press the Windows logo key to activate Start menu.
2. Press the R key to select the Run… option and activate the Run dialog box.

Did you notice the amount of time after which a key press was accepted?

Now you can try to type some text in a Notepad file, hold down a key and find out after how much time a key press gets repeated.

Alternatively, you can activate FilterKeys with a keyboard shortcut. To find out, how to activate FilterKeys with a keyboard shortcut, click on Use keyboard shortcut to turn on FilterKeys.

Often we come across a situation, where multiple users are using the same computer. Some may find the FilterKeys feature useful while others might find it as a hindrance. Wouldn’t it be useful, if you can find out the status of FilterKeys by looking at the screen?

Yes, you can do just that! To find out, how to display FilterKeys status on screen, click on Display FilterKeys Status on Screen.

The FilterKeys option in Windows XP provides an option to adjust the time for different functions using the Advance settings for FilterKeys dialog box, such as Set the time for ignoring repeated keystrokes, Set the key repeat rate and Set the key acceptance rate.

In addition, with FilterKeys option turned on you can also instruct the computer to make sound every time a key is pressed and also when a key press is accepted. To find out how to turn on sound notification when a key is pressed or accepted, click on Make sound when a key is pressed or accepted.

Related links

Windows XP allows users to adjust different FilterKeys settings including:

• Page 1: Activate FilterKeys
• Page 2: Use keyboard shortcut to turn on FilterKeys
• Page 3: Ignore repeated keystrokes
• Page 4: Set the key repeat rate
• Page 5: Set the key acceptance rate
• Page 6: Make sound when a key is pressed or accepted
• Page 7: Display FilterKeys status on screen