Bugging Me - Gnome shortcuts such as [Alt] + [F2] not working in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

Ever since I installed Lucid Lynx on the new Thinkpad W500 a month or so ago, it's been niggling me that my favourite keyboard shortcut - [Alt] + [F2] Run Application was no longer working.

I'm a keyboard junkie and do most of my work without a mouse, although I do love the Trackpoint on the Thinkpad and the Touchpad on the Macbook Pro.

Googling around this morning, I found a solution - it turns out that, by default, everyone's favourite spinny window decorator, Compiz, disables the [Alt] + [F2] keyboard sequence. The solution to restore it, apart getting rid of Compiz which is NOT going to happen in my house, is to navigate to System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager and click General -> Gnome Compatibility.

Once done, [Alt] + [F2] works as it should, along with [Alt] + [F1], which brings up the Gnome menus ( Applications, Places, System etc. ).

In the words of l33t h4x0rs everywhere, w00t