Dear Computer Lady,
You are the best! I cannot even guess at how many times you have helped me.
But now I have a problem. I have Windows XP and Word 2003. My keyboard in Word will suddenly change. That is, the keys type different letters. I have to shut down Word, wait a few minutes, and reopen it. Then it’s fine again for a while.
Can you help me?
One way or the other, God bless you. Janet
Dear Janet,
We will have to do a little bit of troubleshooting to find the cause of the problem before we can figure out how to fix it.
Let’s start with Word.
Does the problem only happen in Word? Next time this problem occurs, close Word, but then open Notepad and try typing. Do you have the same problem?
If the problem is also happening in other programs like notepad, you might want to try a new keyboard. Be sure to shut the computer off before changing keyboards (unless they are both USB keyboards). In fact, trying a USB keyboard would bypass the keyboard connector on your motherboard in case the problem is in the connector.
If the problem only happens in Word. You can try uninstalling Word. Restart your computer, then install Word again.
These are the first two things that I would try. There are other things to try as well, but these are the easy steps that can be done at home.
Elizabeth
My keyboard often changes to where (for example) I will get an accented ‘e’ when I try to type a question mark. If I press Alt and Shift, it switches back to standard… I would try this first, as it is a pretty simple fix. I think it might be a key combination for something that my daughter does in a game, which is fine until I need to type a question mark!