How to Disable F3 Search key in Internet Explorer in Windows Vista?


F3 key can be used to open the Search or Find window and search an item from Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. If you are using Internet Explorer and then you press F3 key, you will notice the small search dialog box. Apart from using F3 key to open the Search box you can use Ctrl + F to accomplish the same purpose. So if you think that F3 is only a redundant key or it is too far to reach then you can very well disable it via registry hack.



Figure 1


To disable the F3 Search key in the following way:

1) Open Registry Editor and expand the branch

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ Infodelivery \ Restrictions in the left pane



Figure 2


2) Right click on the right pane and select New and then DWORD (32-bit) Value option

3) Name it as NoFindFiles and double click it



Figure 3


4) Type 1 in the textbox and press OK button



Figure 4


5) Close Registry Editor



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