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Visual Studio, Sublime Text, Chrome, Firefox, you name it. All the apps with tab-cycling on Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab are no longer working on my Windows PC - that is, Ctrl+Shift+Tab still works, but Ctrl+Tab does not.
I tried using TeamViewer to a friend's PC to see if it was a keyboard issue (I know, I'm smart like that), and it worked fine. I have not installed any programs lately, and it just started happening. Restarting does not work.
When attempting to assign a key to a shortcut in Visual Studio, the Ctrl+Tab combination does not validate, but Ctrl+Shift+Tab does. However, in my Logitech G-Series profile manager, I can assign that command to one of the extra keys, and it validates, but it still does not work!
What could be the reason behind this?
I am using Windows 8.1.
Running Windows in Safe Mode makes the problem go away, but not when running with a clean boot (as suggested by @Ramhound). Malwarebytes and Windows Defender report 0 threats.
Jeff
Posted 2014-09-25T13:40:41.017
Reputation: 331
Would be helpful to know which
Windowsyou are using. Helping with Windows 98 is quite different than with Windows 8. – CharlieRB – 2014-09-25T13:55:39.433It sounds you have software installed that is capturing these shortcuts and ignoring them. Does this behavior surface if start your system in a minimal boot configuration? – Ramhound – 2014-09-25T15:08:38.333
@Ramhound that's the theory. I tried restarting and immediately start Chrome to test, didn't work. How would I start with minimal boot config? – Jeff – 2014-09-25T15:18:29.543
How to perform a clean boot – Ramhound – 2014-09-25T15:23:24.930
@Ramhound clean boot didn't help either. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T15:39:17.617
@Ramhound booting into Safe Mode helps, but obviously not a solution. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T15:52:13.200
What applications are started during a minimal boot that was not launched in Safe Mode? – Ramhound – 2014-09-25T16:25:06.990
@Ramhound I guess just a few Windows services + processes, nothing else. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T16:39:14.500
@Ramhound I am sure something is hogging the Ctrl+Tab combination, as I attempted to write a program to register Ctrl+Tab as a global hotkey, which failed (due to it being registered already). This is getting really annoying. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T17:07:06.007
"Windows Hotkey Explorer" utility reports that something is hogging Ctrl+Tab, but it does not say what. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T17:15:55.660
You should be able to provide more information than a guess. – Ramhound – 2014-09-25T17:39:34.777
@Ramhound the only thing the task manager shows that is NOT from Microsoft, is Chrome, which I was testing on. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T17:42:12.667
So there zero differences between the applications that start upon the login event of the user while in a minimal configuration and safe mode? I find that hard to believe. – Ramhound – 2014-09-25T18:09:04.283
@Ramhound like I said, while I did not exactly compare each process, I did not spot any difference, as all processes were Windows processes, except Chrome. I find it hard to believe that a Windows process would do this. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T18:30:17.503
Why would you find it hard to believe. I could write an application within 20 lines of code that prevents this shortcut. Additionally, I have seen dozens of malware samples, that blocks this shortcut. I am trying to help navigate you to determine if its something malicious or just an application that isn't behaving itself. – Ramhound – 2014-09-25T18:35:16.817
@Ramhound sorry, my point is that I don't think a legit Microsoft Windows built-in system process would do this. I'm leaning towards Malware, am currently running a full scan with Windows Defender. Anything else I could try? – Jeff – 2014-09-25T18:42:05.753
@Ramhound also, I tried running a program called Windows Hotkey Commander, to disable the Ctrl+Tab hotkey, and it "sort of" fixes it (works in Chrome, not in Sublime Text and Visual Studio). – Jeff – 2014-09-25T18:43:17.617
Malwarebytes reports 0 threats. – Jeff – 2014-09-25T21:07:52.653