Dreamcatcher

I was wondering, what is everyones most hated key/key combination. CAPSLOCK seems an obvious winner in most cases. People constantly don't notice when it's turned on, which leads to major headaches both for support and themselves when they try to log in somewhere also writing in caps is considered as shouting on the network, so people don't like other people who overuse this key. But the most hated key/key combination is a little deeper problem and is influenced by many factors.

• Type of hardware You are running
  
  Laptops/notebooks have different key layouts do to the space limitation, this leads to different usage patterns and can lead to the discovery of new hated keys. In my particular case it's the fn key on my laptop and a notebook from work. On my machine it's on the right of the control key (left side of the keyboard), on the notebook from work it's before the control key. This leads to very annoying typos while doing copy/cut/paste operations. Speaking of my laptop I also often hit the touch sensitive multimedia keys. It's irritating to close HP QuickPlay several times daily because it happens that Your hand likes to rest in that particular place
  
  Speaking of hardware, don't forget mobile devices! My Sony Ericsson k500i is quite nice, but the location of the Internet quick launch key is terrible. It's very easy to hit it by mistake and this takes You immediately online without asking for permission, which can be painful if Your are not on a unlimited data plan.
  
  The harmless numlock key can be hated by some notebook users if their keyboard doesn't have a numeric keypad and switching that key on makes some of Your regular characters work as the numeric keypad.
  
  We could enumerate probably much more if we take different key layouts into consideration (dvorak/region specific layouts/charsets) and the differing size of some keys (mostly enter,backspace and shift).
  
  
• Software You are using.
  
  There are many common key shortcuts for applications, but there are a few that do some things different or have some unique features. Double hit shift if You use Google Desktop an Your widgets will pop up. Hit it 3 times more and an annoying Windows pop up will jump in. Hold shift key longer while thinking in the middle of coding/writing and another Windows pop up will freak You out.
  
  
• Context in which the key is used
  
  While ctrl-c/ctrl-v is very useful in typical web browsing scenarios, but remember that an improper use of this combo can be a major killer for programming projects. Seeing big blobs of code copy/pasted several times, just because it was faster for the new guy on the team to do then wrap it inside a function. Maintaining such code is not fun.
  

This list could be much longer but let's stop here for a moment.

To me this key love/hate relationship is no longer a matter of heritage (like the standard CAPSLOCK key case), this is an user interface design problem, even more it's the problem with inconsistencies between different hardware/software platforms.
Today, each one of Us uses much more varying platforms then several years ago. Where are We going with all of this? Do we need some kind of keyboard input standardization or is it time to move on to the next input device on the development list? What is Your most hated key today and what are You planning to do about it?

The key to become hated is to be misused.

This little note was inspired by my sweetheart, all credits go to You honey :*