> first keystroke is somehow used/lost to wake the Cortana

Maybe that's the issue. How do I fix it? I think it happens if I use search after a while.

I am having this issue since several years. I am able to reproduce it in 3 different laptops I have tried at.

It's not a good solution. Start10 should wake up cortana before sending user input. I am also a developer, so I know it's possible to do it.

We can look for workarounds, or we can fix the actual bug.

We cannot reproduce your issue.

How are you 'pressing Start'? Touchscreen, Windows Key, mouse, Ctrl + Esc?  If one is often used by you, do the other ways not have that issue?

Perhaps a purge and reinstall is in order:

https://forums.stardock.com/486022/start10-support-faq#reinstalling

Hello.  I can also report the same issue, including in the current beta.

The explanation that the first keypress is "waking up Cortana" doesn't seem right, because my experience is that the first letter appears as the SECOND letter when I type quickly.

For instance, if I click start and then type      netsh

...what appears in the search box is               entsh

It is never "eating" the first letter in my experience, it is delaying the first letter and inserting it late -- so it becomes the second letter.  I can readily reproduce this behavior.

Very frustrating for a fast typist.

Thanks in advance for a genuine solution.  Perhaps Start10 needs to collect more letters and then forward them to Cortana in the proper order.

Hi.  Windows 10 v2004 (OS Build 19613.1000)

Start10 v1.93

Video at http://youtu.be/7NfftAsBlyQ?hd=1

In the video, I am typing           netsh              very quickly - yes -- but definitely hitting the n before the e.

Oh please.  With all due respect, don't give me the "unsupported version" stuff.

Today's insider version is tomorrow's release version -- you need to know what's coming and deal with it.

I opened a support ticket, and was asked to move my concern to the forum.  So I do that, take the trouble, and then you give me "unsupported...".

Not helpful.  Your years-long customer, jim

I still face this issue in stable version too.

I have even tried waking cortana every minute using "plmdebug.exe" utility. Still had same problem.

Wow it's good to see I'm not the only one with this issue. I thought I was going crazy and swapping letters.  Windows 10, 1909, latest version of Start10 as of this moment.

Please see:

https://forums.stardock.com/489754/get;3776939

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Yes, it does...

Just wanted to report that I, too, am getting the same behavior with the first 2 characters swapped. 

Windows Version 1909 (OS Build 18363.836)

Start10 Version 1.94

This issue affects me on three different computers, all running Start10 1.94.

Computer 1: Dell Latitude 7410 running Windows 10 Pro 1909 Build 18363.959
Computer 2: Dell Precision 3630 running Windows 10 Pro 1909 Build 18363.959 (accessed via remote desktop)

• First character is dropped completely from search input

Computer 3: Self-built AMD 3700X + X570 desktop running Windows 10 Pro 2004 Build 19041.388

• First two characters are often swapped

The character dropping issue generally only occurs after a fresh reboot (on Computer 2, via remote desktop, it is reproducible more often). The character swap issue is easy to reproduce as often as I like. For both, I generally always click the start menu with my mouse rather than using a keyboard shortcut.