Using Microsoft keyboards with Dell laptops considered harmful

Do not use a Microsoft keyboard with a Dell laptop. I just spent two hours trying to fix a computer where that was the problem. You can tell when you have this problem because MS Office zooms in. Not the whole screen, just the document. PowerPoint is particularly bad since not only is everything too big, but the text flickers and you can’t type anything. And since the problem starts when you hit Fn-F8 to show the slide show on a projector, some people think it’s the only app with the problem.

Fixing it: The best way in to delete all of the MS IntelliType software. But since it comes with Windows XP and Vista, that’s nearly impossible.

Otherwise: open the Start » All Programs » IntelliType » Microsoft Keyboard (Warning: IntelliType might have a different name depending on your keyboard model.) If you can’t find the Microsoft Keyboard program, install the full version here. Click on Update and select a keyboard with zoom buttons. The Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 works. Quit the keyboard program and then open it again. There will now be a Zooming tab. Uncheck Enable zooming. If you want, you can change the keyboard back to your real model.

Why does this happen? Keyboards traditionally use unused letters for extra functions. Back in the PS/2 days, this was the only way to add things like the Play and Volume buttons. Both Dell Fn-F8 and MS Zoom map to the same unused letter. (Character code 0x0B) The problem is both do it wrong. USB keyboards should no longer do this since there might be a foreign language keyboard that uses them. There are extra codes specifically used for media control or extra functions. MS ignores the specifications. Dell keyboards are PS/2, so the only way they can work is to use these codes, but they fail to send the key up command. Thus any keyboard driver looking for these codes thinks that someone pressed the button, but didn’t let go.

You might be saying “Why does this happen when I don’t even have the MS keyboard attached?” Because MS keyboard drivers load, even when the keyboard is not attached. So if you ever had one of Microsoft’s magic keyboards on your computer, you’ll still run into this problem.

So, don’t ever plug a Microsoft keyboard into a Dell Laptop. It’s the only way to keep it from happening.