Windows 7 Reassign keyboard key

Question

I have recently upgraded my PC from Windows XP to Windows 7 and when I came to use the keyboard, the key allocated to @ is producing the " character. Because of this I'm unable to access any email account without an @ character. Can anyone advise?

Thank you

Les Farndale

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Answer 1

Hi Les,

This could be due to incorrect hardware settings due to the upgrade, missing/corrupted/outdated keyboard drivers etc. Let's try the following methods and check. 

Method 1: If your computer is having problems with a recently installed device or other hardware, try using the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter to fix the problem. It checks for common issues and makes sure that any new device or hardware attached to your computer was installed correctly.

Open the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type troubleshooter, and then click Troubleshooting. Under Hardware and Sound**, click** Configure a device.‌  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Method 2: Please refer to the article below from the section Keyboard & Mouse.

Personalization & Ease of Access

Method 3: Visit the computer manufacturer's support website and install the latest keyboard drivers for the same computer model as you have.

Hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to reply in case you face any other issues with Windows in future.

Answer 2

Les,

This is a straightforward matter of setting the correct keyboard regional setting.  From your description of the problem, I think you have a US keyboard that is set to act as a UK keyboard [or the other way around].

1 Go to Control panel, View by - Small icons, Region & language, Keyboards & languages, Change keyboards, General tab, select the correct keyboard for your region* if it is not the one already shown [click on *Properties...*to see a preview of the keyboard layout] or click on Add... & select a new keyboard from the list [whilst you are in the list, click on the Preview button to see a preview]. When you've finished adding a new keyboard, move it to the top of the list using the buttons in the dialog box or, if applicable, delete all the other unwanted entries. 

[* The region for which the keyboard was made and for which its layout has been set. I understand that there is a "US International keyboard" that suffers from a confusing & seemingly random change of regional layouts quite easily so, unless you have some particular need for its special versatility, choose a specific keyboard layout instead.] 

2 Afterwards, look at the Language bar tab and, if you don't routinely need to change language settings, set the Language bar to Hidden. 

3 Then look at the Advanced key settingstab where you will see the Hot keys for input languages shortcut key sequences that might make you swap keyboard languages by accident. You'll also see the Key sequence that you might wish to alter by clicking on the Change key sequence button and setting Switch input language & Switch keyboard layoutto Not assigned [when I changed these, I had to set Not assigned for the Switch input languageand accept the change then come back to the dialog to set Not assigned for the Switch keyboard layout].  You can safely alter these settings to remove the shortcuts because you can always come back to this dialog to change these settings if you need this facility in the future.

Denis