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How to disable Control+W? Have you ever been its victim?



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How to disable Control+W? Have you ever been its victim?

Control+W. A simple keyboard shortcut. A double edged sword!

I use control+w probably hundreds of times a day as I'm constantly opening and closing new tabs in my browser. And using the convenient control+w keyboard shortcut to quickly close the tab when I'm finished with it. But sometimes, sometimes, you inadvertently do that shortcut on your keyboard and it can close the tab down that you're working in and once it's gone, whatever you was working on in that tab, such as writing something in a text field, is gone! Gone forever as though it never existed.

Sometimes I've control+w'd full on essays and things before I've got to post it because of doing that lol. It just happens when you're not really a certified and educated typist and you're not really looking at the keyboard and before you know it bang! The tab or the browser is gone in a nano second lol

I know it. You know it. Anyone that uses a keyboard and keyboard shortcuts knows it! Talking of keyboard shortcuts. How do you disable control+w shortcut and what can you replace it with instead? It seems the most comfortable key to press without having to move your finger much and mostly, all the other keys around it are taken up by some other command.

Example Firefox keyboard shortcuts

  • Control+a = selects all the text on the page or in the field you're working in.
  • Control+e = puts the cursor in the search field of your browser if you have it.
  • Control+r = reloads the current page (this is basically same as closing it!)
  • Control+f = opens the search form so you can find something on the page.
  • Control+d = lets you save the website/page you're as a bookmark.
  • Control+s = lets you download the website/page you're on to your computer.

The only other keys to replace it with could be q or z I guess.

But if you're a bit of keyboard warrior like me you'll probably still find yourself doing it from time to time!

That's why I usually write a lot of my stuff prehand in notepad or wordpad or something first if I know I'm going to be writing some really long post or something.

Windows doesn't come with a rewind feature but it would be uber cool if it did!

Have you ever been a victim of a rogue control+w?

If you deny it you are a liar and the truth is not in you! How to disable Control+W? Have you ever been its victim?

And how to actually do that anyway?

Cheers!

Mike.

Comments

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Cristian
I personally used Chrome and I rarely use keyboard shortcuts, control+W also closes tabs on Chrome but I use the mouse instead, I totally understand you issues, I actually do this myself with the mouse! Like writing a CD response or a CD post and I end up closing it before hitting the publish button. Very frustrating!

I think a cool feature should be implemented here, something to "lock" certain tabs from being closed. Like when you are working on something really important or you want to keep a page open for future reading a good way to prevent this should be done with a "lock" feature.

And there is actually an extension for this problem: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lock-it/magjmoeipkknhmpcojpeomlfgaofhfho
Just installed it, I'll let you know how well it works, I bet you can find the same thing for Firefox.



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Lynne
Well actually I don't use my keyboard short cuts much at all to be honest. And never for Firefox anyway. I wasn't even aware of control+w or what it did.

The only keyboard shortcuts I ever use is control+s to save documents, control+a to highlight everything, control+c to copy and control+v to paste.

Yeah I think that is it for me and keyboard shortcuts. I know that there are loads of things I can do with my keyboard but I just prefer to use the mouse. It feels easier for me.



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Corzhens
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on the keyboard shortcuts. But when it comes to closing the tabs, it can be a disaster if you make a mistake in closing a tab that you are still working on. Worse, what if you have not saved the data you have typed in it. I am using the mouse to click on the X to close the tab or window. That is safer for me. But it is also my habit, just for good measure, to review the page before clicking on the close tab button.



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