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Along time ago, I was broke and had to use a broken keyboard (more likely I was being a stubborn idiot, but I digress). I don't remember the details, but the keyboard was broken in such a way that I had to totally disable the backslash/bar key. I think it was something like an electrical malfunction (water spill etc.) that caused the computer to think that this button was getting pressed when it wasn't. This was a measure I took after already physically removing the key.
Since then, I've been too lazy to re-enable it, finding it easy to work around, and consequently forget how I did it. Now I need it partly because I'm trying to learn a little Mandarin and have a Pinyin layout set up, but also because it's just needlessly annoying.
So I need my backslash key back. I don't think I used any particularly special apps to disable it? I remember looking into the character map app, but that just seems to be a way to insert characters you don't have and I think it's just stuck in my mind because it kept showing up.
Disabling the key was meant to be a temporary fix that I would resolve quickly, so I don't think I would've removed whatever tool(s) I used to do it assuming I even downloaded extra apps.
I looked online for how to disable a keyboard key and got back a fucking ton of pages mentioning Simple Disable Key, SharpKeys, some other stuff in reference to disabling the Windows key... When I searched for these on my computer, I found no such programs.
I'm trying to research it myself, but I'm having difficulty for some reason or other and I don't really have a whole lot of time/patience for it now.
So, does anyone know how I can undo this massive act of idiocy on my part?
Edit: Alternatively or at least, how can I try to reset my keys so whatever I did is undone without doing too much?
Edit 2: I'm using Windows 10
TheNameIUseForStackExchange
Posted 2019-10-31T18:43:52.063
Reputation: 31
Also, note that this issue was made freshly apparent by installing a new custom keyboard layout for pinyin, so I don't think its something I did to my keyboard layout if that's not already apparent from the context of it having to do with a broken key. – TheNameIUseForStackExchange – 2019-10-31T18:51:49.540
I tried testing it in Passmark KeyboardTest. It registers the key as something pressed, but the output reads Power. It also says the power management keys are untestable. Hmm... – TheNameIUseForStackExchange – 2019-10-31T19:04:56.947
sooo, what operating system is this ? – Sirex – 2019-10-31T19:20:35.860
I'm using Windows 10. Updated. Also, it's possible my question might've been answered. I don't know how I didn't find it, but I think I just saw an article... – TheNameIUseForStackExchange – 2019-10-31T19:38:05.240