Many people find the Windows key on most modern keyboards a convenient time-saver. No matter where you are working in Windows, pressing the Windows key brings up the "Start" menu. Plus, several keyboard shortcuts exist involving the Windows key including:

WINDOWS+E: Explorer
WINDOWS+F: Find (Search)
WINDOWS+M: Minimize all open windows
WINDOWS+R: Run

Depending on your needs, however, the Windows key may prove to be a major inconvenience. While accessing a full-screen application, such as a game, you might accidentally tap the Windows key, bringing up the "Start" menu and moving focus away from the full-screen application. This could result in loss of data, your game not going as expected, or worse, system instability.

You can disable or re-enable the Windows key via registry modifications. The following are links to files that will modify your Windows Registry. Right-click the desired file and save it to disk, then double-click the file and confirm importing the registry settings when prompted. After the registry settings that modify the Windows key state are imported, you will need to reboot your machine.

* Disable the Windows key

* Enable the Windows key

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