Windows 10 Quick Tips – Fix Key Bounce

A few months back I found a deal on a Corsair Strafe mechanical keyboard. My old keyboard was working OK but I wanted one that lit up the whole keyboard and not only a few keys (like WASD). As you might imagine, I was excited to hook up this bad boy when it arrived at my doorstep. I got her all hooked up, got all the pretty lights just how I liked them, and then started typing something. To my dismay, every time I hit the “i” key, or the “o” key, and other keys, too, instead of a single letter showing up on the screen I would get a whole string of them as if I had held that key down. This phenomenon is known as Key Bounce or Jitter or Chatter. It smells the same by any other name. Baaad…

I plugged my old keyboard back in and basically forgot about it. Every once in a while I would plug the new one back in and try various settings without any luck, until a couple of days ago. This week’s Quick Tips article will show you a combination of settings and a Registry hack that will solve this very frustrating problem.

First, The Settings

1. Use the Windows key + I to open the Settings App
2. Choose Ease of Access
3. In the left panel, choose Keyboard

That should bring you here:

Note: As usual, making a change in Settings takes immediate effect and there is no reboot required.

Note 2: The checkbox labeled Allow the shortcut key to start Filter Keys is checked in the above image. This is handy if you like to play games from time to time and don’t want to have to open Settings to change this behavior. (Some games require fast repeat rates.)

You’ll have to scroll down a bit in the right panel until you find the section labeled Use Filter Keys. Toggle the indicated switches to the On position, then choose the amount of time you want between repeated keystrokes. The minimum amount is 0.3 seconds and, for me, that’s way too long. Even a “hunt and peck” typist can hit two letters in a row faster than that. This is where the Registry hack comes in…

Second, The Registry Hack

[message type=”warning”] Standard Registry Editing Warning: The following instructions will ask you to edit your Windows Registry. Be sure to make a backup of your Registry before you make any changes. Making mistakes in the Registry can cause hard-to-diagnose problems, or even keep Windows from functioning properly. If you don’t know how to back up your Registry, please read Windows Quick Tips – Backup/Restore Registry. [/message]

1. Use the Windows key + R to open a Run Box
2. Type Regedit and hit Enter
3. In the Registry Editor that opens, follow this path down the left panel:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Keyboard Response

That should bring you here:

Double-click on the Value Name AutoRepeatDelay. That will open a window like this:

That 300 is a measure of time in milliseconds. 300 is equal to roughly 0.3 seconds. The amount of time you choose here will vary. I find that 300 milliseconds works well for me, but a shorter or longer duration might better suit your needs. You will need to experiment.

There are two other settings to take note of here: AutoRepeatRate and BounceTime. The 300-millisecond settings here is way too long for me. I set mine this way:

• AutoRepeatRate = 50
• BounceTime = 35

Change those numbers to what you want and click OK. You can then close the Registry Editor. You will have to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. Once again, you will have to experiment to find your personal sweet spot.

Caveat

I cannot stress this enough– be sure to back up your Registry before you make these changes. Tightening up these values too much can make it damn near impossible to type anything at all and that includes getting into the Registry to change things back to normal. You have been warned. Twice.

As always, if you have any helpful suggestions, comments or questions, please share them with us,

Richard
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