Game Key Guard for Windows

Disable the Windows key while gaming, from your Stream Deck. One key press on a Windows PC switches the Windows key off; another key blocks Alt+Tab. It helps keep the Start menu closed in a game when a finger slips, while Ctrl+Alt+Del and Ctrl+Shift+Esc (Task Manager) stay available.

Features

Block Windows Key: both Windows keys are off while the key is on

Block Task Switching: blocks Alt+Tab, Alt+Esc and Ctrl+Esc, and Alt+F4 if you select it

Game Guard: one key for everything you select, optionally only while one program is active

The key shows BLOCKED while a once-a-second check confirms the block

English and Japanese

Safety

A block ends when its key leaves the visible page, the PC wakes from sleep, or Stream Deck quits

If the plugin is killed, Windows removes the block

Requirements and limits

Windows 10+, Stream Deck 6.9+. Tested on Windows 11

It stops what Windows does with these keys; a game reading them itself (Raw Input) may still see them

Ctrl+Esc means Esc while Ctrl is held; clear it in Game Guard if your game uses Ctrl

An admin program in the active window may stop the block

The check is a marker key event; idle timers such as screen-off may not start while blocking

No statement about anti-cheat software

Privacy

Uses a Windows keyboard hook only while a block is on. What you type is not recorded, stored or sent.

Idea or bug? Use the Support link. Every message is read.

First release with three actions. Block Windows Key and Block Task Switching stop the Windows keys, Alt+Tab, Alt+Esc and Ctrl+Esc while the key is on, and Game Guard does it only while one program is in front. English and Japanese.