Weird Keyboard Fault

[Mr_M_Cox]

on a windows xp machine with a standard qwerty keyboard (Dell Brand). the numbers along the top are bringing up theier shift values
eg
1 - !
2 - "
3 - £

and i cant rembmber how to turn it off so that they only come up when shift is held down. the normal way.

please help

[AJT1]

sounds to me like sticky keys is enabled hit shift about five times and you'll be able to turn it off

[Michael]

In addition, (in my experience) some users can be heavy handed causing keys to be permanently pushed down. Try pressing and releasing both shift keys.

[Geoff]

Also well aimed spillages on the keyboard can short out the shift key.

[TechMonkey]

Plus i find that XP seems to decide sometimes that one of either the shift, ctrl or window keys is down even if it actually is fine. Tap each on both sides a couple of times and that seems to remind it that it isn't on.