I am posting this as a public service, as a JesusH Honeypot like the Lane Staley and ODB tribute pages, and for my own future reference. Windows has a great feature for the differently abled and AOL users where if you hold down the shift key for more than 8 seconds, filterkeys (a really annoying function that sticks your shift key permanently on, among other things) will turn on. Here are the steps to turn off the damned thing.
1) When the dialogue box comes up to ask if you want filter keys, you can choose from Yes, Cancel, or you can just hit escape to close the box. Go ahead and choose any of those options. YOUR FILTER KEYS ARE NOW ON>
@) TRY HOLDING DOWN BOTH SHIFT KEYS AT THE SAME TIME> THAT WORKS A LOT OF THE TIME>
#) DIDN”T WORK? TRY HOLDING DOWN THE RIGHT SHIFT KEY FOR * SECONDS.>
$) NO DICE? TRY REBOOTING>
%) STILL STUCK? TRY A SYSTEM RESTORE (PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS> SYSTEM RESTORE>)
^) IF IT”S STILL STUCK, FIND YOUR WINDOWS CD< AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS TO REINSTALL THE OPERATING SYSTEM> CHOOSE THE FULL FORMAT AND REINSTALL OPTION>
&) HERE”S WHERE IT GETS TRICKY: AT THIS POINT< YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER INSTALLING LINUX OR BUYING A MAC> With Linux, you can use your existing hrdware^h^h^h^h^h^hardware but you’ll invest a lot of time setting it up. With a Mac, you’re probably good to go but it will cost you a few large.
Important: If you do reach step 7, you may want to quarantine the affected system just to be on the safe side.
I’m something like 100% confident that following the above progression is absolutely, positively, nearly guaranteed to fix your problem.
It’s probably worth trying to disable this function permanently in Control Panel > Accessibility options > Filter Key Settings > Uncheck “Use Shortcut”, but I believe that option has been disabled by Microsoft for your own protection.
Good luck fellow Windows users. We’re all in this together, so help a brother out.
Google Key Words
filter keys filterkeys sticky keys stickykeys microsoft windows accessibility options disabled shift key stuck how to turn off motherfucking microsoft bill gates i hate you i hope you rot in hell die die die die die aaaaaaaargh
HELLO> THANK YOU FOR POSTING ON THIS AS IT IS A PROBPLEM I”VE HAD FOR SOME TIME> I BELIEVE THAT MY PROBLEM HAS SOMETHIN TO DO WITH AQ VIRUS OR MAYBE NOT> I HAVE TRIED ALL OF YOUR TIPS WITH NO SUCECS> PLEASE HELP> THANKS< JEFF
Hey, thank you for your advice on pressing the both shift keys at the same time, this was driving me nuts! Thank you once again!
LMFAO, that hotkey thing really is so dumb. I had the same problem too, a couple of times and had to reboot, hoping it wouldnt save my settings (which it didnt thankfully) grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!! M$ suck, both shift keys at once?! It dont even say that on the filterkey options
it worked tho! 
Check out the excerpt from this page that Google uses when you search under “turn off filterkeys”. Diabolical.
Thank you so much! The holding down both shift keys at the same time trick worked! I was so annoyed trying to disable the feature to no avail.The information you posted is very much appreciated!
Deep joy, pressing both shifts at once worked for me on Windows XP Professional. Previously I have had to restart.
Thanks.
I just encountered this annoying problem myself. I couldn’t even enter anything when I went to google to get help, because none of my keys worked. I have windows XP. I finally found filterkeys in the control panel under accessibility options. I clicked on the keyboard tab and unselected filterkeys. Everything is back to normal again. I hope this helps someone.
Thank you for this. A repeated and vexing problem.
You’re a genius for posting this Dre!
Pressing both shift keys helped. Thank you – this was making my life miserable.
I just have to say the way this post was put together is pure genious! Thank you
I honestly can’t stop laughing
why in the world M$ create filterkeys u can not turn off?
You are a god send holding down the two shift keys worked for me to. i am currently studying advanced higher computing at my school and am the top in my class (love to bost) anyways this problem has annoyed me so much over the years an finally i can get it off thank you so much
God God, I was ready to kill somebody, I disabled it but it still turned itself, I’m a gamer so I press and hold shift all the time,
hey, thanks a million. u really r a genius!!! pressing both left & right keys together worked for me when microsoft helps scattered all thru google didnt even mention this & whatever it mentioned was totally useless. sine in control panel none of the options were selected in the 1st place so that they can even be deselected.
I even tried disabling the options using the registry edit!! And it still does it! Maybe I should just delete the entire key.. =_=
I used:
;Disable Sticky Keys
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\StickyKeys]
“Flags”=”506″
;Disable Filter Keys
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Keyboard Response]
“Flags”=”122″
;Disable Toggle Keys
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\ToggleKeys]
“Flags”=”58″
… But it dosen’t seem to have worked.
Thanks for your advice, it worked perfectly!
i tried holdin down da 2 shifts at da same time and it wont work please help me
All y0ur sh1fts ar3 bel0ng 2 us caz… pwned!!!!!111!!1
Thank you so much! I was so pissed because I couldn’t log in anywhere because the damn thing was in caps lock! You really saved me. I had no idea what to do!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME WITH THIS PROBLEM1 I”M SO GLAD MY SHIFT KEY DOESN”T STAY ON PERMANENTLY ANYMORE111111111
W))T
Just kidding. But seriously, thanks a billion.
Hold both shift keys at the same time? I fix this a different way, i just hit the right shift a couple of times.
I got the impression that the reason stickykeys got stuck on, despite saying “no, don’t!” was because it wasn’t detecting the release of the right shift key. Tap it again, after turning off the stickey keys, and, and windows gets the “Key up” message it needs.
Could be a false assumption, but it works!
(NOTE: Only works with Right shift key. Left shift won’t help you).
thanks for posting this. i have wasted more time rebooting, and attempting to disable this damn feature. using this xp computer at work makes me hate windows even more than i did before i used it on a daily basis. i particularly love how if you cancel, sticky keys are STILL turned on anyways.
yay! thank you!
I think I’m in love with you. I tried everything, like 19 times. I was able to do a Google search somehow, but none of the other sites mentioned the double shift key action, which was just the little trick I was hoping to find. I even had to cancel my tutorial this afternoon cause I couldn’t finish my paper cause I couldn’t even punctuate!! I am not in love with Windows, to say the least.
Thank you. I love this post. I accidentally held the shift key, while I was reaching for a bite of my meal, and this showed up, along with an annoying little alarm clock icon in the tool bar. I thought I had it licked and when I rebooted later, it showed up again. I will keep this in mind when I have problems again. YIKES. Funny post thanks
a
Hi Guys
I know this thread is old, but I just spent a couple of hours working on this freaking issue, so I thought I’d let the world know a workaround.
I went to the control panel, and unticked ALL the “Use {feature}” and “Use Shortcut” checkboxes, then exported the “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility” key in the registry.
if it ever turns itself back on, just double-click the file to restore the “unticked” version.
the contents of this file, to save you all going through the pain:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Blind Access]
"On"="0"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\HighContrast]
"Flags"="122"
"High Contrast Scheme"="High Contrast Black (large)"
"Volital HC Scheme"="High Contrast Black (large)"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Keyboard Preference]
"On"="0"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Keyboard Response]
"AutoRepeatDelay"="1000"
"AutoRepeatRate"="500"
"BounceTime"="0"
"DelayBeforeAcceptance"="1000"
"Flags"="122"
"Last BounceKey Setting"=dword:000001f4
"Last Valid Delay"=dword:000003e8
"Last Valid Repeat"=dword:000001f4
"Last Valid Wait"=dword:000003e8
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\MouseKeys]
"Flags"="58"
"MaximumSpeed"="80"
"TimeToMaximumSpeed"="3000"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\SerialKeys]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\ShowSounds]
"On"="0"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\SoundSentry]
"Flags"="2"
"FSTextEffect"="0"
"WindowsEffect"="0"
"TextEffect"="0"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\StickyKeys]
"Flags"="506"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\TimeOut]
"Flags"="2"
"TimeToWait"="300000"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\ToggleKeys]
"Flags"="58"
Enjoy!
Thank you very much, i was just going to install freebsd or zos and you saved me a lot of that time.
Cheers !
i got around this by hold both shift keys for a few secs then inopeneb the on screen keyboard then hit the right shift key. hope it works for you
hey thnks dude…… can i have ur email address so that we can share our computer skills???
Ben, you’re the best. Your Registry fix was the only thing that worked lastingly for us. For anyone who doesn’t understand how to make Ben’s code into a solution, I’ve posted a Reg file with simple instructions here:
http://www.craig.copperleife.com/tech/
Well, hmmm … didn’t you just thought about going to accessibility options in control panel, then enabling (check) filterkeys option, click apply, and then unchecking the option (for those saying that it wasn’t enabled when in reality it was)? Just use your brain next time
, it helped me in XP home while both shifts didn’t.
THANK YOU!
fuckty fuck fuck damnit fuck argh
Thanks for that. Just when I thought Windoze couldn’t throw anything more retarded at me… it did. Accidentally held down shift for 5 seconds, CANCELLED filter keys, then the caps lock key was working in inverse and no numbers, etc. Yay! Turning off the options had no effect, evidently, only holding down two keys at the same time. Imagine the board meeting at MS for the design of that wonderful feature.
By the way ‘Johnny use your brain’ going to control panel and deselecting the options DID NOT EFFING WORK. Use YOUR brain, this is Windows we’re talking about!
This was hilarious!
I was about to loose my mind trying to get that STUPID sticky keys feature thing turned off..! I read this and pressing both shift keys at the same time actually worked! Thanks!!!
I tried everything but believe it or not, I hit the left control key and sticky keys turned off. Go figure. Microshaft does it again!
This was a fun solution to our Microsoft woes. Thank You.
(“Are you a jackass spammer?” in the leave comment section …. Hilarious!)
I have found a workaround for the problem, simply navigate to a web page that has the letters you require, then cut/paste each required character to construct a sentence.
Finding a lower case ‘Z’ or ‘X’ or ‘Q’ when you need it can be challenging, making it difficult to write _ebra, _ylophone, or barbe_ue.
Andres… Excellent information sharing… Thanks a billion! Both Shift Keys down seems to work a treat! Great cos workarounds suck!
Johnny is a condescending person! Why does he say things like “use your brain”… was he mistreated as a child?
That’s true, Jaques. Don’t be a dick, Johnny.
hola M.P. (:
why the crap does windows have sticky keys? is there a point to it?
Fellow JOHN: sticky keys are for
Handicapped people who can only touch one key at a time
Efficiency nuts who want to type faster
I actually use sticky keys to gain a couple more WPM and of course reduce wrist stress from holding down more than one key simultaneously, something all nerds should watch out for.
I don’t push sticky keys on other users any more than I do Dvorak or vi, but don’t fault these things just for existing — they’re useful to somebody.
vi is awesome.
Once you vimperator you never go back.
that is totally ridiculous.
hilarious, thank you. microsoft help gave no solutions and pressing both shift keys works so far ! probably saved me a couple of hours of recovery. great job.
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I went into acessibility and disabled stickykeys. I basically unchecked everything after hours of trying to figure it out why my keyboards wasn’t working. I Love the Internet.
PRAISE JESUS>
I was about to throw my laptop off my balcony. This page offers way more info than any of the WindowsXP sites. Thank you!
just a quick note. I had the same prob, did everything twice, read and read every possible cure. Didnt work. Untill I noticed my NUMLK WAS IN LOCK POSTION.I unlocked it and every thing returned to normal. Check yours out too. That may be the upside.
Working on a paper when it came on and was about to push me over the edge! holding both shift keys worked for me. thanks for the help! greatly appreciate it!
omg stickey keys drives my friggin crazy!! sometimes im holding shift to capitalize something when im writing and i am thinking and its on. then i have to re boot and i lose everything! >.
2 shift keys worked
thanks for the help
Hi,
well, i;m almost at breaking point. I’m trying to sort out this sticky keys thing also..but to no avail. i’ve tried the reg fix, tells me its added to the registry but nothing changes.
I’m running toshiba portege with xp with tablet edition running, and upon startup there is a little on screen keyboard that is all in capitals, with both shift keys lit up, upon hitting a shift key the shift keys turn off but all the onscreen keys still stay capitals…i then log in as admin with password and in windows shift keys are stuck down. acessability options for sticky keys are all turned off and i am now considering doing a complete reinstall altough i don’t have the disks as this laptop was given to me.
any help much appreciated.
thanks.
stuboy,
oz
Thanks!!! I had this fuck… problem a few years back and I guess I had to do a system restore to solve it, I thought microsoft had solved this stupid filter keys but now in 2009 i had the same problem, with this post I saved the restore (which was deactivated anyway), both shift keys clicked worked.
Thanks!
Thanks for this both shift keys at the same time worked for me. Every time that this happened in the past I always ended up restarting.
Thank U very much.. It worked for me when i presses both shift keys at the same time..
i’m having the same problem…. i’ve disabled all my sticky, filter, and toggle keys, (in the reg and in the accessibility options) but my shift key seems to be permanently stuck in the “on” position. everything is reversed… my caps lock is on when it’s supposed to be lowercase and i can’t type numbers on symbols. i’m really at a loss. i know it’s not because the keys are literally sticky or anything like that, it’s basically a new computer. any suggestions?
THANK YOU SO MUCH I WAS PLAYIN AN ONLINE GAME AND THE F`IN STUCKEYKEYS CAME UP I TRIED TO DISABLE AND THE FILTERSHIT ALSO HAPPENED. U R A LIFESAVER. (^_^)
Thanks for the extensive documentation.
But seriously, isn’t there a way to keep this from happening, no way to disable sticky keys from ever turning back on?
Rebooting didn’t help me, WinXP Prof SP3. Holding both shift keys together worked. Grrrrrrr…
FINALLY A FIX!!! Holding both shift keys worked. Microsoft SUX!
THANKYOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!! pressing both shift keys at the same time worked. i was going crazy!!! LEGEND
THANKS MAN WAS PLAYIN WOW TRIED LOGGIN OUT AND CUDNT GET BACK IN MUCH APRECIATED
ohh i used the holdin 2 shifts down and i have vista premium. dont know if this makes any diffrence/helps but thanks again
For those that nothing is working the problem may not be sticky keys. Try pressing Fn and Number Lock. I finally found a forum that suggested this and it worked for me!
Fuck Bill Gates and fuck Steve Jobs, they’re the same shit, dickheads!
Perfect: Both shift keys saved a reboot on a spreadsheet I hadnt saved!
On the upside, I’m going to have so much fun in the office finding unattended terminals with spreadsheets up & turning the damn things on
i had unchecked all use key options to avoid problems but i dontknow how sticky keys have turned itself on.
i tried all options mentioned above but all in vain
plzzzzzzzzzz help me…
press both shift key at same time. its works……
THANK you are Jesus! I never thought that I would have my computer back on today! whoo hoooooooo:)
Thanks buddy…pressing both shift keys helped me…
how did you know if these f*cking filter keys are gone when you try to hold both shift?
thanks dudes its really works pressing both shift key at same time.
thanks once again.
1.1st you want to set win to view all files
2.search for accwiz.exe should be in the win xp prefech
files
3.copy that to win system 32 folder
4.set control panel folder options to view common task
options.
5 now you will see the control panel accessibility
options,click on it and turn it off…..