"C" Key doesn't work unless I use the shift key

A wierd problem. I Can only use the C if I shift when pressing C. The keyboard seems intaCt. I've had a trusted repair shop dissemble the laptop and no problems were deteCted. An alternative means of getting a lower Case C is to turn on Caps LoCk and use shift to get a low Case c! Otherwise pressing the C key gets no response. Another oddity with this problem is that it works fine when I use it in a searCh window both in the "searCh by… all or part of the file name" and in the searCh page address bar. Any help is greatly appreCiated. Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600) MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Hi lewellyan, Odd symptom. I don't have an immediate solution. And apparently neither did the "trusted repair shop". hmmmm. However, you also indicate "extremely long startup time & frequent hangs" It will be up to a qualified HJT expert to analyse and make recommendations regarding your HJT log, but I'll venture the following comments: (with the still unproven presumption that you have no infections at this time) You may "like" the Yahoo Browser portal features that you have installed. I don't. Mostly because it uses so much of the machine resources/internet bandwidth, and the same sites and functions can be viewed more simply using IE or any other browser like FireFox or Opera. You got all that Yahoo Browser stuff when you installed your Internet connection from the installation CD or you intentionally downloaded Yahoo and MSN to use as your "portal" to the internet. Not my choice, but to each his/her own. In the process of having Yahoo and MSN, you've created many instances of browser redirects to the various MSN games that you may or may not prefer to have specifically available. Again, hogging resources. What I'm wondering, is if one/some of those gaming connections have anything to do with your keyboard "C" problem. I've never heard of such a thing, but the "long startup/hang" problem is very likely related to your "portal feature preference" of yahoo and MSN gaming setups. Again, it is not my place to argue with a Member about things that are completely their own preference. It's your choice. I just wonder if your machine would run better if you uninstalled some of those yahoo/msn internet optional features. Best Regards

Thanks for your response Dough. ACtually, the pC belongs to my lady- a MSN Zones game addiCt. This is also the site that produes the majority of her hangs! I've disabled the Yahoo toolbar and am anxiously awaiting the response to her HJT log filebefore doing more. In the meantime, I thought I'd see if anyone had even heard about this C key problem. Further researCh shows that the C works in notepad, but not in wordpad It's quite frustrating.