Pacman Spacebar of doom syndrome.

slipss · 04-10-2009 06:13PM #1

Ok so my computer is doing this thing again, it only does it sometimes but it pisses me off no end. If I make a mistake when typing and need to arrow back to the middle of a sentence to change something everytime I type something or hit the spacebar it eats to letters infront of it instead of pushing them ahaed of it's self. Anyone know how to fix that?

andrew · 04-10-2009 06:14PM

You've gone and accidentally pressed the insert key. Press it again.

orestes · 04-10-2009 06:17PM

Insert key (ot just ins), used to piss me off no end before I figured out what caused it since it seemed like it just happened at random

slipss · 04-10-2009 06:19PM

Cheers boys, legends.

artanevilla · 04-10-2009 06:19PM

:pac:

syklops · 04-10-2009 06:19PM

Press insert on your keyboard and that should fix it. Pressing insert once starts something called overwrite. Apparently it is very useful if you know how to use it, but for most people it is an unbelievable pain in the rear.

Let us know how you get on.

EDIT: Ah jaysus, timed out of my session so had to log back in again. Otherwise I would have been first to post.

minidazzler · 04-10-2009 06:20PM

Asked and answered in 1 minute, another victory for AH.

Prof.Badass · 04-10-2009 06:21PM

andrew wrote: »

You've gone and accidentally pressed the insert key. Press it again.

You've no idea how radically my life will be altered by that one piece of information.

andrew · 04-10-2009 06:50PM

vinylmesh wrote: »

You've no idea how radically my life will be altered by that one piece of information.

Go forth and spread the word

orestes · 04-10-2009 06:54PM

andrew wrote: »

Go forth and spread the word

You're not the Messiah, you're a very naughty boy!

Krieg · 04-10-2009 07:10PM

Dear god....
If only I had gotten this valuable info before I began typing my thesis last year

I found myself having to save the document, then close MS word, start it up again, load document. It was the only way I knew how to get rid of it, I had no idea I was hitting insert.

Poor Uncle Tom · 04-10-2009 07:19PM

Yeah, learning this piece of information is a true revelation, a life altering moment. I bet everyone remembers where they were when they heard it.

I remember I was resting behind a grassy knowl, rifle in hand.......oh wait...

TestTransmission · 04-10-2009 07:27PM

Explaining numlock would blow your mind OP

slipss · 04-10-2009 07:31PM

Numlock, isn't that a symptom of tetnis?

Thirdfox · 04-10-2009 07:57PM

Print Screen is a nice one too to explain to the uninitiated (or Prt Sc as it appears on netbook).

barakus · 04-10-2009 09:03PM

Oh thank fuck...thats been wrecking my head for ages now. never thought to research it or ask anyone how to fix it though.
So thanks for that:)

Faith · 04-10-2009 09:59PM

Wow, I never knew that! I always went the long way around of fixing it, by manually unticking the 'overwrite' box in word.

AlmightyCushion · 04-10-2009 10:04PM

Wait till ye find out about sticky keys.*

*No, that has nothing to do with ****.

spiritcrusher · 04-10-2009 10:30PM

And double clicking the bottom of tabs in firefox when you can't be arsed hitting ctrl+t...

moonflower · 04-10-2009 11:04PM

I've been trying to figure this out for so long! Always just thought it was my computer going crazy

Sea Sharp · 04-10-2009 11:34PM

I always assumed it had something to do with the computer running out of RAM or something.

Out of curiosity, how is this feature useful?????

Alt+tab for the win

Krieg · 04-10-2009 11:45PM

Keep 'em coming

Oh, try "Alt + f4", it makes your desktop appear :P

Thirdfox · 04-10-2009 11:57PM

GaNjaHaN wrote: »

I always assumed it had something to do with the computer running out of RAM or something.

Out of curiosity, how is this feature useful?????

Alt+tab for the win

I would assume it was for when your secretary was taking dictations and you suddenly decide that a whole passage was unnecessary and go back to a previous sentence - this way the new words overwrite the old ones and you don't have to delete the old sentence.

Ctrl-Esc normally brings up the start bar (useful in the event of a crash and there's nothing to alt-tab to).

syklops · 05-10-2009 12:14AM

Here is a nice anecdote from my life experience, and it is of a similar vein..

Years ago I worked for a certain chip manufacturer in Ireland. I was doing a 1 on 1 practical test where I was typing in serial numbers. At one point in the exam I had to type in numbers and used the number pad and nothing appeared onscreen. My tutor said "dont ever get in the habit of using the number pad because on some keyboards the number pad does not work", so I said ok, used the standard numbers.

A few weeks later it came to my exam, and the same tutor was presiding over me. It came to a part in the exam where I had to type in numbers, and I defaulted to the number pad, and she said "Ah hah!!! I told you the number pad does not work on all keyboards!!"

So I pressed the "Num Lock" key on the keyboard and continued typing. My examiner asked "Does that work on all keyboards"?

I passed the test.

Executive Steve · 05-10-2009 12:27AM

slipss wrote: »

Numlock, isn't that a symptom of tetnis?

BRILLIANT!

gerTheGreat · 05-10-2009 12:43AM

I'm shocked! I go away for a weekend and people starts giving good advice in AH. There's not a sarcastic remark in sight. What happened to you Boards.ie? You used to be cool.

Hal1 · 05-10-2009 02:36AM

Ah jaysus another epic win thread for AH.

congo_90 · 05-10-2009 02:41AM

ctrl+ shift+ esc> select "explorer.exe" under processes tab> end task.

Let me know how that works out for ya

consultech · 05-10-2009 03:51AM

Ah insert key what did I do before I discovered what you did?

I remember that beautiful day whenst first I discovered it: Bounding gleefully home from the office in the sunshine knowing I would no more feel that extra helpless panic while trying to edit some colleague's fúktardidly-formatted document. A truly magical, and simpler time.

Ah memories

Theta · 05-10-2009 09:38AM

Windows key + E dead handy shortcut.

In firefox

Ctrl+w: Close a tab

Ctrl+shift+t: Reopen a tab you closed by mistake (I always close tabs by mistake)

05-10-2009 09:43AM

What exactly is the purpose of Numlock?

Pacman Spacebar of doom syndrome.

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