Aspire One - Change/swap F keys function to standard F key behavior & not hold down Fn key to access

Belinea
Belinea Member Posts: 2 New User
edited October 2023 in 2020 Archives
Hi all

First time posting in this forum so be kind.

I have a new Acer Aspire one which I know is a legacy machine now but it is for my children do use for School Work during the Covid lockdown.

I have searched this forum and else where (google) and I have thus far been unable to find anything that is helpful.

The issue is the Fn button which as you know is set to default to Acers utilitys like screen brightness, sound volume and, the real issue, flight mode.

On all of my other machines, my work laptop and my home PC you have to hold down the Fn button to access features like this and without the Fn button being held down the F1 - F12 buttons act normally. My children are finding that they are constantly using F2 to access features within the programs they use for school work but as they are not used to having to remember to hold down the Fn button they are turning off the laptops internet connection which is causing BIG issues and some arguments. I have done it myself twice while typing this post and it is highly annoying.

It is beyond me why Acer have done things this way around but is there a setting that can swap the F keys back to normal?

I have tried checking the BIOS (V1.21) and nothing there suggests it can be done so I wonder if it would perhaps be a registry setting?

For the sake of my sanity and family harmony any suggests would be gratefully received.

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 35,309 Trailblazer
    Yeah, they have updated a few BIOS versions to support toggling the default, but not most of them. With an older machine like that it's not likely to happen. The only people who really complain are those of us who use applications with function key shortcuts, most people use those keys for the special functions. I've gotten used to just hitting the Fn key as if it were a shift for the places I need it (such as F5 page refresh in a browser).
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Belinea
    Belinea Member Posts: 2 New User
    Hi billsey thanks for your reply although it is not what I need to hear. Explaining that and reminding a 8 & 10 year old to hold down the Fn key each time is almost impossible. I simply find it astonishing that Acer thought to do it this way when every single software package I use needs function key access (and I use a fair number of different types of software). I think I will post into the Microsoft community forum and ask if they know of registry setting that can be changed. I doubt the need to hold down the Fn key is hardwired into the machine so it would be an internal software thing.

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