Try pressing ctrl, alt and one of the direction keys simultaneously.
By imaginearea
@imaginearea (363)
February 11, 2009 5:09pm CST
Today my cat walked on the keyboard of my laptop and suddenly the entire screen display flipped 90 degrees so my screen display was UPSIDE DOWN...it was really, really weird (I mean twilight zone weird) and felt as though my entire world had turned upside down. Can you imagine how freaky it must be to see everything upside down on your computer screen and not know how to fix it. I tried rebooting but the screen stayed the same. Finally I typed my problem into Google and the response was that I simply had to press ctrl, alt and one of the direction keys simultaneously. You can imagine my relief when everything went back to normal.
If you're a bit of a prankster this would be a cool trick to play on a friend:) but be sure not to keep them in suspense for long...that would be too cruel, lol.
Has anything as weird as this ever happened to you with your computer?
1 person likes this
9 responses
@derek_a (10874)
•
12 Feb 09
That is weird. And the cat did it too!. I just tried it on my desktop - couldn't help myself, but nothing happened. I am running Windows XP, so perhaps it only works on a laptop. Next time I got my laptop up and running I will try it on there.. That runs Vista.. :-) Derek
1 person likes this
@danrunsfast614 (1396)
• United States
12 Feb 09
Hmm...doesn't work on my computer but I have seen it work on others before. I think it might be a laptop only thing maybe? It was scary when it first happened to me.
@mirage108 (3402)
• United States
13 Feb 09
Thanks for the info, that happened to me and what I did to fix it was a system restore to the day prior and that fixed it also
@jason1308 (1586)
• France
11 Feb 09
Well I don't know if you are pulling my leg on this one, I have been pressing these keys for minutes now, all combinations, and my screen, or display stays rock solid and doesn't flip.
I have even just gone and tried this on my wife laptop while she was out the room and that didn't do it either.
Have you an odd computer, or is it normal and I have the odd ones.
@imaginearea (363)
•
11 Feb 09
I am new to this whole 90 degree flip thing. It was a complete fluke. But I think it doesn't happen on all computers...for example, it happens on my laptop but doesn't happen on my son's laptop. I suppose you're lucky if it doesn't happen to you...who wants an upside down screen anyway, lol.
@dropofrain (1167)
• India
12 Feb 09
Yes once I pressed the shift key for quite long and the consequencees followed. It was really weird and was difficult to get out of the trouble easily. Try doing that with your computer and you will realize the effects.
@daneg33 (1128)
• Canada
12 Feb 09
What you describe here is called "Sticky keys" which happens when you hit "shift" five times. It's super annoying and the only way to shut that off is to again hit the shift key five times. I've had it happen to me before and if you don't know how to get rid of it, it's maddening!!!!
@princessturkey (5)
• United States
12 Feb 09
I wish this would work for me! I think it'd be really funny to leave it like that. Must be certain versions of Windows or something..
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
12 Feb 09
I love it!
Nothinga that I can remember has ever happened tome though I am self-taught and got intosome huge pickles when I first started using my computer.
I will certainly be 'showing' that one tomy friend at the weekend! 
@sarafii74 (106)
• Australia
11 Feb 09
That's amazing!!
First I press the UP but nothing happened, then the LEFT button. It really scare me!! The screen looks slim by the way, haha~~
I think it's a useful way to show something in your laptop. Try to imagine that when you talk to someone face to face in the table, and you want to show something, powerpoint, pictures, etc. and you need not to turn your laptop to him/her, just lie down the screen of your laptop then press ctrl+alt+DOWN button. What an easy way!
Thank you for your information!
Have a nice day!
@gamingworld (577)
• United States
11 Feb 09
Lol I have done that before on another computer. I only learned it because someone tried to do it as a prank on me lol. Too bad I cant do it on this computer though. Alot of people use this computer and then they would go crazy about the screen turned around. I woulda yelled at them for breaking it then just tell them everything. I hope nothing goes out of hand if that were to happen lol. The weirdest thing to happen to me with my computer was when it was flashing for a few secs. I dont know why it happened but it hasnt ever happened after that.
