PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Configuring a Keyboard

Windows 9X/2000/XP allows you to customize some aspects of keyboard behavior. To do so, run the Keyboard applet (Start → Settings → Control Panel → Keyboard) to display the Keyboard Properties dialog, which includes the following pages:

Speed (Windows 9X/2000/XP)

Includes settings for how long a key must be held down before it begins repeating and for how quickly it repeats. Also allows setting cursor blink rate, which controls how fast the virtual cursor blinks in Windows applications. Change any of these settings by dragging the associated slider. Changes take effect immediately when you click Apply or OK.

Language (Windows 9X) or Input Locales (Windows 2000/XP)

These pages are nearly identical except for their names. They are used to install additional keyboard languages and layouts. Windows 9X allows specifying a key sequence (either Left Alt-Shift or Ctrl-Shift) to rotate through available languages from the keyboard. Windows 2000/XP provides the same choices, and adds an optional second key sequence to jump directly to the default language using the same key sequences listed for Windows 9X, with the addition of one character, 0 through 9, tilde, or grave accent. Windows 2000/XP also allows specifying the method used to turn off Caps Lock, either by pressing the Caps Lock key or by pressing the Shift key.

Hardware (Windows 2000/XP)

This page displays the type of keyboard installed. It provides a Troubleshoot button, which invokes the Keyboard Troubleshooter ...