Is it possible to disable "overtype" in Windows

[Fingers]

I've got a bad habit of accidently hitting the "Insert" key and changing into overtype mode. I sometimes end up replacing several words, sometimes an entire sentence, before I realize what happened. I've never found any use for this "replace" mode, and I can't imaging a scenario where I'd ever want to edit text that way.

If I can't find a solution, I'm gonna break open the keyboard and permanantly disable the "Insert" key.

[NDC]

That's just what you may need to do.... just pop the "insert" key off and put a piece of rolled up tissue in it.... that's how I have my Windows Start Key on my keyboard.... I use CTRL and ALT a lot and it always gets in the way....

[Fingers]

I wouldn't want to give up my <Windows> key, but does anyone actually use "overtype", or even the <Insert> key for that matter?

[zskillz]

i busted out my left widowz key because I would accidentally hit it during a game sometimes, and then I couldn't get back into the game, and i lost the whole mission...
-Z

[Roy]

You should be able to map the Insert key to a neutral function.

There was a link here recently about keyboard mapping. I've searched but I haven't found it yet. I think I bookmarked it on my home machine, I'll look there later.

[Fingers]

Apparently, it's been a long time since I removed any keys from a keyboard. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif I pulled out the <Insert> key expecting to find a tiny spring, a small plastic rocker, and and small flexible metallic plate that makes contact when the key is depressed. (did I mention it's been a while since I messed around with a keyboard?) What I found instead was a one-piece plastic key with a hollow tubular stem that goes down into the keyboard through a rectangular guide sleeve.

Pending Roy's link, I'm going to the hardware store to find a coil spring that will fit snuggly around the rectangular sleeve on the keyboard. With a little fiddling, I should be able to use this spring to substantially increase the amount of pressure needed to depress that darn <insert> key.

[Roy]

I've been hunting, no luck. The added spring sounds like a clever solution. If I find a remap utility for Windows, I'll be back. (Ones that run under DOS are plentiful, but ...)