If you play PC games, you have almost certainly experienced this: you are in the middle of a tense match, rapidly pressing the Shift key to make your character sprint, when suddenly your game minimizes. A loud beep plays, and a Windows dialogue box appears asking, “Do you want to turn on Sticky Keys?”
Sticky Keys is an accessibility feature designed for users who have difficulty holding down multiple keys simultaneously. By default, Windows 11 activates a prompt for this feature whenever the Shift key is pressed five times in rapid succession. If you do not require this accessibility tool, this shortcut is nothing but a frustrating interruption. You can permanently disable this keyboard shortcut trigger.
How to Disable the Sticky Keys Shortcut
You can turn off the 5-press shortcut directly within the Windows 11 Accessibility settings.
- Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press Windows Key + I on your keyboard).
- In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Accessibility.
- Scroll down the main window until you reach the “Interaction” section, and click on Keyboard.
- Under the “Sticky, Filter, and Toggle keys” section, click anywhere on the Sticky keys panel to expand its options.
- Look for the toggle switch labelled Keyboard shortcut for Sticky keys (the subtext will read: “Press the Shift key 5 times to turn Sticky keys on or off”).
- Click the toggle switch to turn it Off.
The change is instantaneous. You can test it immediately by aggressively tapping your Shift key five or more times. Your PC will remain completely silent, and the game-breaking prompt will never appear again.