Ctrl + A + Backspace acting as home key

Question

I recently installed Windows 10 on a PC and have very little experience with it, as I usually do almost everything in Linux. I have come across a problem which a friend of mine also has: pressing Ctrl + A + Backspace acts as if I pressed the Home key. This is problematic as I type rather quickly and at times when I am trying to delete everything in the selected text box, I will hit Backspace before fully releasing Ctrl + A.

I have attempted to do some tests with this. I have confirmed for certain that it happens in Firefox as well as Internet Explorer in most text boxes (including the one I'm typing in now). In the file explorer text boxes, Ctrl + A + Backspace only selects the text and does nothing more. In Notepad it gets more interesting, as the key combination merely replaces all of the selected text with a character: ``

I have tried to research this but haven't found any information on it. Could anyone tell me why this happens, and possibly how I can fix it? At times I press the combination four or five times in a row before I slow down enough to finally delete the text as I intended, and it's very counterproductive in general. Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Edit: As requested, my keyboard (hardware) is a Unicomp Model M. I have tested it using QWERTY, Dvorak, and a custom Programmer Dvorak layout through the Windows keyboard settings, and it happens with all of them.

Edit 2: It has been pointed out to me that the strange symbol in Notepad appears when Ctrl + Backspace is pressed - the A has nothing to do with that. I still do not know why this is, however.

Answer 1

I think you lost a character in the question, about what shows up in Notepad.

When I tried Ctrl+A+Backspace in Notepad, I got the same results as pressing Ctrl-Backspace. (This did generate a character that looked like a thin, tall rectangle.)

I can suggest three approaches:

• Try altering your behavior. Use Ctrl-A and Delete, instead of Ctrl-A and Backspace.
• Try a different keyboard. (This may ultimately end up having the effect of altering your behavior a bit. Another possible effect is to eliminate ghosting issues that may occur when too much is pressed simultaneously on some keyboards. Although I'm suspecting that your current issue is unrelated to keyboard ghosting.)
• Use the downloaded software AutoHotkey to respond to Ctrl-Backspace by having it automatically press Ctrl-A and then either Backspace or Delete. Hopefully the software will be responsive enough to be able to complete its actions before Windows processes your next keystroke.