Why Does This Happen??

[Crash2510]

That statement makes me wonder a few things, that may or may not help.

How many USERS are set on the machines? (assuming XP, Vista)
If one, are you set to autologon?

It sounds to me, like you only setup one user, and are hitting some Windows shortcut key to autologoff, which would then immediately autologon.

hey cabman sounds like windows icon + L is logging you out try it I think its the ticket

imho that logo is a pain but has tons of shortcuts

[Crash2510]

-s Shutdown Windows
-r Restart Windows
-l Logoff current user
-t nn Change default delay to nn seconds
-f Force programs to shut down
-a Abort a shutdown or restart

could also be some of these lovely ones

[rosesunkist]

If it takes you straight back to the desktop then it sounds like it is CTRL + W.
It closes the currently open window.

[rnelson0]

-s Shutdown Windows
-r Restart Windows
-l Logoff current user
-t nn Change default delay to nn seconds
-f Force programs to shut down
-a Abort a shutdown or restart

Are these new/changed in Vista? In XP Pro, S does nothing, R is run, L is Lock computer, T and A do nothing (heh), F is find, and rosesunkist's W does nothing.

[cabinetman]

I'm not any way near the keys at the top of the board (above the numbers). It's happening with keys at the bottom of the board.
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[radhak]

If it takes you straight back to the desktop then it sounds like it is CTRL + W.
It closes the currently open window.

Thats it!

I tried this on XP, and rosesunkist is right - CTRL-W closes the window with no warning. And if the browser is the only window open, when it disappears you drop back to the desktop, showing you all the icons.

I think one reason could be the positioning of your left hand. The tip of the left pinky, and the lower left edge of the left hand might touch the keyboard at the same time, pressing these two buttons (CTRL and W) simultaneously, thus closing the window. And if are habituated that way, it'd happen anywhere you work.

You could try resolving this by moving the keyboard a bit to the left (or your chair a bit to the right), or even by rotating the keyboard a bit so the left side gets away from your left hand....

note : rnelson, rosesunkist meant W with the CTRL, not with the Windows key...

[rjwaldren]

-s Shutdown Windows
-r Restart Windows
-l Logoff current user
-t nn Change default delay to nn seconds
-f Force programs to shut down
-a Abort a shutdown or restart

could also be some of these lovely ones

These aren't key combo's they are the command-line switches for the shutdown.exe command.

CTRL+W is the only thing I could find that would drop you to the desktop as you describe, ALT+f4 would be hard to do accidentally. I attempted to type a capital W while resting my hand over the Control and Windows key and was able to reproduce your original issue. (Active screen dies - Start menu opens)

[cabinetman]

If it takes you straight back to the desktop then it sounds like it is CTRL + W.
It closes the currently open window.

That's what did it!!! It seems when I somehow graze both, the screen goes to the desktop. Wow, this was some mystery. Maybe they will make a movie about it.

Anyway, thanks to all who offered suggestions.
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