Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

@ and " randomly swap preventing me from doing my things.


  • Please log in to reply

#1
Kieran powell

Kieran powell

    New Member

  • Member
  • Pip
  • 1 posts

Hello I'm a young software designer and a person who likes to play alot of games. But randomly (Or i do something without realizing it) my @ symbol is swapped with my '' symbol and a bunch others as well. and this is really annoying since most of my work is typing with characters such as these, and with them being swapped it annoys me as i can no longer navigate the keyboard correctly until i do a reboot of my computer as that is the only fix I have found so far. it getting to the point where i really don't know what this problem is and I would really like to know how to fix it quicker. there must be a way or a shortcut that swaps these keys.

 

Can anyone help me please???? thank you :)


  • 0

Advertisements


#2
Spike

Spike

    nOoB

  • Member
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 1,357 posts

Good day Kieran and welcome to Geeks to Go,

 

This issue you are experiencing sounds like it might be the keyboard layout swapping between different layouts. And having mentioned your passion for games, I know sometimes when I play a game in Steam my "Input Indicator" comes up; although on my setup I only have one language and keyboard layout to choose from, so I can not confirm if that is the reason your layout keeps cycling.

 

I'm also not certain what operating system you are using so I will give instructions for Windows 8.1 which will give you a general idea of how to resolve your issue without having to keep rebooting. There are two ways you could go about this:

 

Option 1: Being my recommended option which is more of a permanent fix. If you are only using one language and only have one keyboard (or several with the same layout) and you don't have to cycle between layouts purposefully, then you could remove the keyboard layouts you don't require permanently (Which of course can be re-added at anytime). Again these instructions based on Windows 8.1.

 

> Right-click "Start Button"

> Click "Control Panel"
> Change "View by:" to "Small/Large icons"

> Click the "Language" in the main list menu

 

You will then be met with your computers language preferences and there should be more than one item listed in this screen... This is where you need to decide what language you would like to set as your primary language; Move the primary language you would like to the top of the list by clicking the "Move up" button. Also the way you can identify which language you would most likely want to keep is by looking at the middle column which also lists the "Keyboard layout". (If your "@" sign is on the same key as your "2" key on your physical keyboard, you are most likely looking for the "US" keyboard layout, if not you should be able to make out which layout you require from the list). In the case that the list contains non of the options you are looking for, then you can go ahead and click the "Add a language" button and select from a wider range of languages and keyboard layouts.

 

The next step (once deciding on your primary language and keyboard layout) is to remove all the other remaining languages. You can do this by clicking on the remaining languages and click the "Remove" button. This will remove the languages/layouts you don't use and will keep other applications from automatically cycling through different keyboard layouts in future.

Option 2: The second option being, that you require different layouts depending on the applications/physical keyboards your would like to work on and you intentionally want to swap between the different layouts. This will require you to have a "Input indicator" on your taskbar. If the "Input indicator" isn't being disaplyed already you can add it by:

 

> Right-click your "Clock" in the bottom right hand corner
> Click "Properties"
> The "System Icons" window should open.

> Under "Turn system icons on or off", change "Input Indicator" to "On" under "Behaviors" drop down menu.

> And click "OK"

 

You will then notice a little "Input Indicator" just left of your "Clock" in the taskbar. When your keyboard layout cycles by itself you can then click on the "Input Indicator" (Assuming english is your primary language "ENG" will be displayed) and select the language and keyboard layout you actually want without having to restarting your computer.

 

I hope this helps... Please do let us know if there is anything else you require.

 

Peace Out :cool:


  • 0

#3
terry1966

terry1966

    Member 1K

  • Member
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 1,143 posts

agree it sounds like the keyboard layout is changing between english uk and english american layouts.

being in the uk i've run across this before where the keyboard layout is defaulted to english usa setup and not what i need english uk setup.

 

:popcorn:


  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP