Author Topic: F12 Key (Read 1933 times)

jb · « **on:** October 14, 2006, 10:14:46 AM »

My friend has an iMac G5 Rev.B (Second Generation) with OS 10.4.8. Function Key F12 is used by the System Preferences->Keyboard and Mouse->Keyboard Shortcuts->Dock, Exposé, and Dashboard->Dashboard, to open the Dashboard. My friend wants to disable this shortcut. But when he unchecks the Dashboard F12 box, AND he unckecks the Dock, Exposé, and Dashboard box, the F12 shortcut is disabled allright, BUT both boxes get checked again upon Restart and thus the F12 Dashboard shortcut is re-enabled.

My iMac G5 rev A (First Generation), also with OS 10.4.8, does not recheck these same shortcut boxes upon Restart and thus the F12 Dashboard shortcut remains disabled..

What is my friend doing wrong, OR, what am I doing right?

jb

giantmike · « **Reply #1 on:** October 14, 2006, 01:37:59 PM »

Maybe it also needs to be set to nothing in the Dashboard and Expose system preferences.

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #2 on:** October 15, 2006, 04:26:57 PM »

It may be a Permissions thang, also. If the System doesn't think he has permission to make those changes, it may not actually be writing the new prefs as he sets them, thus, they actually stay the same as will be seen after a restart.

giantmike · « **Reply #3 on:** October 15, 2006, 07:16:29 PM »

ABD's post got me thinking, maybe it is a corrupt preference. The preference file that the keyboard shortcuts are saved to is com.apple.systempreferences.plist. There are a handful of other prefs stored there, so you might lose more than just the dashboard setting if you trash it, but it could be worth re-setting some prefs if it helps.

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #4 on:** October 16, 2006, 12:08:58 PM »

And don't let him forget that "trashing" does not have to mean putting something in the trash and emptying it. Simply moving a pref file to the Desktop and Restarting will automatically re-create a System pref with the default settings.

If that solves the problem, fine. Now put the old prefs file in the Trash and empty when desired.

If the problem remains, you can safely put the original file back where it came from ( clicking "Replace", if asked ).

Never actually put anything into the Trash until you are sure it is not needed. Simply moving a file from its normal place is usually enough to see if it is where the problem lies.

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #5 on:** October 16, 2006, 08:00:02 PM »

Here's another method of killing these things, but it involves the Terminal:
<http://www.macworld.com/...mac911...>

jb · « **Reply #6 on:** October 24, 2006, 05:35:41 PM »

Thanks all.

Well as suggested someplace else, or may be here, I added the "Option" selection to the F12 selection. That fixed it, in that selecting F12 only, Dashboard no longer gets turned on.

jb

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Author Topic: F12 Key (Read 1933 times)