Lassie Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 What did I do? was replying to an email in Outlook express when the text went mad, typing a mixture of numbers and letters. Shut it all down to let it have a rest, tried again, same result. Even when going in to old documents, it will only type in a mix of letters and numbers. I know there are kindly people on this forum who patiently reply to people like me. I am using my husband's computer to write this as you would not be able to read it otherwise.can anyone help? lassie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVicar Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Probably an obvious first reply, but it sounds like a virus. Have you run a full virus check? Had any strange e-mails lately, particularly with attachments? Is it happening with all replies or only this particular sender? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Perhaps your keyboard is cactussed. Is it a laptop or a desktop? If it's a desktop, do you have a spare keyboard at all, perhaps pinch your husbands to check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lassie Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 Its not just in Outlook expresss but in all programmes where I am typing. The Norton report says everything is clean. The email came from French Property News office so I guess it was OK, but when I hit reply, the funny typing started. Its a laptop and I dont know what catcussed means. What exactly should I do to run a virus check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 My keyboard behaved like that when it got wet...coffee on the keyboard. Had to ditch it and buy a new keyboard.It might be worth trying Panda as an alternative virus check http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/ActiveScan.htmGood luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Cactussed means knackered. It's a laptop. Ok. Bit more difficult to replace the keyboard, but not impossible. But do all the virus, spyware checks before looking at the hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 [quote user="Lassie"]What did I do? was replying to an email in Outlook express when the text went mad, typing a mixture of numbers and letters. Shut it all down to let it have a rest, tried again, same result. Even when going in to old documents, it will only type in a mix of letters and numbers. I know there are kindly people on this forum who patiently reply to people like me. I am using my husband's computer to write this as you would not be able to read it otherwise.can anyone help? lassie[/quote]IMHO it sounds like you have pressed the Function key and F11; this has the effect of authorising the hidden numeric keypad on a laptop. If this is the case, it is easily reversed - usually - by holding down the Fn key and the F11 key at the same time. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustic-Rocker Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 If you can do a scan with Norton using your mouse, it sounds as though it is your keyboard that's causing the problem, but as the others have said....best do a virus check. PC-Pro tested AntiVirus programs in this months issue....Norton scored 68% the highest score was Kaspersky with 98%; Norton was ranked 11th out of 13. Click on this link to get to the Kaspersky site and then select free scan, they will tell you if you have a virus but you will have go for a free trial to remove them. http://kaspersky.com.Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEO Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 If you ,or indeed anyone thinks their pc would benefit from a "scan for potential problems" the best that I have used for free is Ad-Aware.SE Personal from www.lavasoft.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 [quote user="Rustic-Rocker"]If you can do a scan with Norton using your mouse, it sounds as though it is your keyboard that's causing the problem, but as the others have said....best do a virus check. PC-Pro tested AntiVirus programs in this months issue....Norton scored 68% the highest score was Kaspersky with 98%; Norton was ranked 11th out of 13. Click on this link to get to the Kaspersky site and then select free scan, they will tell you if you have a virus but you will have go for a free trial to remove them. http://kaspersky.com.Good luck![/quote]Here is a link to the results table : http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/155/antivirus-software/products.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini_man Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 I think spg already hit the button:try and follow this:ANSWER!Here’s yer problem, buddy. Your computer thinks you have the ‘Fn’ key(otherwise known as the function key) held down right now, even thoughyou don’t! You can tell that this is the problem if the letters/numberswhich come out on the screen are the ones which are noted on the lowerpart of the keys you’re pressing. And you’ll notice that if youactually hold down the ‘Fn’ key, your computer’s keyboard acts as itnormally does.So why does the computer think the ‘Fn’ key is being held down, evenwhen it’s not? Because you have ‘Num Lock’ on! When you have the ‘NumLock’ key on, your computer perpetually thinks that the Fn key is helddown.Here’s how to turn ‘Num Lk’ off if you want your keyboard actingnormal again: hold ‘Fn’ and hit the ‘Num Lk’ button. (You have to holdFn while doing this, because otherwise, the computer would think youwere trying to press ‘Scr Lk’, or scroll lock. I don’t know the layoutof every keyboard of every computer sony has ever made, so it might bedifferent for you.), after that, everything should work normal again.For some reason, Sony Vaio laptops, on the rare occasion turn their‘num lock’ on by themselves. It’s easy as it can be to turn it backoff, it’s just that it can be very confusing for someone who doesn’tunderstand the problem.Hope that cures it ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lassie Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 Yes - it was the number lock which I must have accidentally pressed and stayed down even after the computer was turned off. So obvious when it is pointed out. Many, many thanks to everyone who responded. I have learned a good lesson and hope it will help someone else in the future.Both I and the computer have now returned to sanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 5 a0 very ha**y that 5t 5s w6r25ng f6r y64 aga5n. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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