How to disable Alt key -> letter shortcuts

[Marin85]

Hi,
in Windows Explorer or Word (or any other program with some menu) pressing "Alt" activates letter shortcuts (like Alt+F opens "File" menu, Alt+E opens "Edit" menu etc). Is there any way to disable this option in windows? I´m currently running Windows 7, but I guess it wouldn´t much different from Vista or XP.

Thanks,

Marin

EDIT:To clarify, I don´t want to completely disable the "alt" key, just those specific shortcut combinations. The reason I´m asking this is that I have German keyboard and I tend to use alt+ctrl to access the special symbols like @{\²³~ etc (instead of using "AltGr"), which often throws me out from various editors to their menus...

[RealBlackStuff]

AFAIK you cannot disable that function, but have a look at this: http://www.autohotkey.com/
Maybe you can 're-direct' some?

[Marin85]

RBS, thanks a lot for your suggestion! This utility looks quite interesting and I will be certainly playing with it in the coming few days. My only consideration is even if I manage to redirect those shortcuts, pressing just "alt" will still keep kicking me out, or maybe not, if I manage to redirect all of them... I will report back as soon as I have some results.

Cheers,

Marin