If you play PC games, you have likely experienced one of the most frustrating interruptions built into Windows. You are in the middle of a tense moment, repeatedly tapping the Shift key to sprint or dodge, when suddenly your game minimizes, a loud beep plays, and a massive dialogue box appears asking if you want to turn on “Sticky Keys.”
Sticky Keys is a valuable accessibility feature designed to help users who have difficulty holding down multiple keys at once. However, the keyboard shortcut to activate it—pressing the Shift key five times in rapid succession—is highly incompatible with fast-paced video games or intensive data entry. You can easily disable this aggressive keyboard shortcut.
How to Turn Off the Sticky Keys Pop-up in Windows 11
You can untether the five-tap shortcut from the Accessibility menu.
- Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press Windows Key + I).
- In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Accessibility.
- Scroll down the main window on the right until you find the “Interaction” section, and click on Keyboard.
- Under the “Sticky, Filter, and Toggle keys” section, click on the text Sticky keys to expand its advanced options (do not just click the master on/off toggle).
- Look for the setting labelled Keyboard shortcut for Sticky keys.
- Click the toggle switch next to it to turn it Off.
Once disabled, you can hammer your Shift key as fast and as often as you want. Windows 11 will completely ignore the rapid inputs, allowing you to sprint in your video games without constantly tabbing out to the desktop.