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I've been spending my entire computing life (since Windows NT 4.0 at least) on the assumption that the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination is held sacred by the operating system - that no program can usurp this key combination and it will always be captured by the kernel's security layer and issue the highest-priority interruption that causes the Security screen to be displayed (except on Windows XP Home Edition when it shell-invoked the Task Manager directly).
However I was using VMWare Player today and I let it capture my mouse and keyboard, but after I was done I wanted to get out and I forgot the hotkey combination (note for future reference, I need to double-tap Ctrl +Alt ). I thought I'd Ctrl+Alt+Del to invoke the security screen and switch focus to the Task Manager, however when I pressed the keys VMWare Player rebooted my VM - somehow it had captured the keypress.
So this experience taught me that processes can capture CAD, but how did it do it?
Having looked at the QA that you linked to, I took a look at my Device Manager and saw that there's the vmkbd keyboard class filter that looks like it's VMWares - so it's possible they capture the SAS/CAD keystroke from there.
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Answering my own question, though Chris Morgan (see third comment to my original question) deserves the credit.
Having looked at the QA that you linked to, I took a look at my Device Manager and saw that there's the vmkbd keyboard class filter that looks like it's VMWares - so it's possible they capture the SAS/CAD keystroke from there.
I did a bit more research (read: I googled for for "vmkbd ctrl alt del") and found other articles and forum threads that corroborate this explanation.
Even so, the idea that a driver can intercept CAD is a bit unnerving, though it makes sense. I do miss the old days before USB when CAD triggered a CPU interrupt in hardware. No drivers required.
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