Locked out due to one broken keyboard key?

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LANGALIST By Fred Langa When your keyboard malfunctions, common PC tasks such as simply typing in your sign-in password can become difficult — or even
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fisher75, Norio, woody

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A good reason to make use of an on-screen keyboard.

Beyond that, for some, it can be useful to keep a cheap external keyboard handy, to use as a spare.

I have a very old ThinkPad that I no longer work from directly, but is still a useful computer.  Several years, I accidentally popped off one of the key caps (one that my login password uses), and rather than replacing the entire keyboard, it’s easy to plug in an external keyboard, on the occasions I need to use that computer.

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I’ve got an HP Probook with a borked equals key and that’s also the [Shift] “+” key as well but at least the + is replicated on the 10 key pad that’s on the right but no other key has the = key capability so that’s a real bummer on that “business grade” laptop.

I’ve noticed that the only laptop that I own where some of the keys lettering has not completely worn off on the most used keys is an older bottom consumer grade Toshiba Satellite laptop where the Key decals/lettering are offset to the upper right on the individual keys and not dead center like my other laptops.

It’s just too bad that HP did not choose to replicate that + = arrangement on the 10 Key pad’s huge + key with maybe a [Shift] = option as well but there is only one = key and the onscreen keyboard helps with that. That and better quality keys on HP’s business grade laptop offerings as well as other brands. The laptop is so old that I’m just thinking of getting a USB keyboard(Cherry Keys) for use while at home and I really need to look for some new laptop options as most of my laptops are really becoming dated.

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Hover over keys: If you can’t click, select this option and move your cursor over an OSK key — the character the cursor is hovering above will be entered automatically after a user-adjustable delay.

How do you select this option if you can’t click?

Use <Tab> to bring you to “Click on keys” in the “To use the On-Screen Keyboard” section, then use the right arrow key to toggle on “Hover over keys” and then use <Tab> to get to the “OK” button.

 

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I had a laptop with a defective keyboard many years ago – some keys didn’t work. So I had to change my power-on-password so that it included only the keys that worked!

This was for an XP computer. I don’t believe there was an on-screen computer available for the power-on-password.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

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