The backslash key on the keyboard (the key located underneath the backspace key) no longer produces a backslash, but instead two small dots appear. This only happened in the last few months and I have not made any obvious hardware or software changes to the computer. The computer is running Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3.

The problem of the backslash key not working could be either hardware or software related, so we initially need to narrow down the problem to one of these sources. Fortunately, this is fairly easy to narrow down if you are able to obtain a different keyboard (perhaps borrow a keyboard from a friend). Connect the keyboard into the computer and check whether the problem continues. If the problem stops then the keyboard is the issue. In this case you should replace the keyboard on the computer. Keyboards are relatively inexpensive (around $30 – 40 for a basic model) and can be purchased from most computer shops. However, if the problem continues after switching keyboards then you have determined that the problem is not keyboard related and we can discount hardware as the potential cause, leaving something wrong with software as the remaining possibility.

When considering software related causes for this problem we should first check the keyboard layout which has been configured on your computer. Windows supports various different keyboard layouts as different countries use keyboards with different characters. For example, in Australia we use the US keyboard layout. However, European countries they use different layouts which correspond to particular characters which are used in those locales. Likewise, you can also get variants on the normal US keyboard layout such as the Dvorak layout which has keys in different locations (for efficiency purposes). This means if the keyboard layout has incorrectly been set on your computer then keys which you type on the keyboard may not appear as desired, as they are mapping to a different character than that listed on the particular keyboard key. To check the setting, go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Regional and Language Options” control panel (you may need to first select the “Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options” category). In the Regional and Language Options window that appears, select the “Regional Options” tab. Ensure that under “Standards and formats” the locale is set to “English (Australia)” and under the “Location” heading, the setting is “Australia”. Next, select the “Languages” tab and click the “Details” button. In the “Text Services and Input Languages” window that appears, select the “Settings” tab. Under the “Installed services” heading, ensure that “English (Australia)” is installed with the Keyboard being “US”. Should this not be the case, click the “Add” button and add an input language service with these two options. Next, ensure that the “Default input language” is set to “English (Australia) – US”. Click the OK button to save and close these settings. You should now be back in the “Regional and Language Options” window. Click the “Advanced” tab. Under the “Language for non-Unicode programs”, ensure that the setting is “English (Australia)”. Finally, click OK to save and close the window. Check whether the problem still continues.

Should the problem continue, another possible cause of the problem could be that some background program or process is intercepting keystrokes and printing a different character. I have no idea why a program or process would perform this function, unless it is some kind of international localisation program, but nevertheless we should check whether this is the case. We will disable all background programs and processes from loading on Windows startup. If the problem is sorted then we know that one of those programs or processes was causing the problem. Go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “msconfig” (without the quotes) and click OK. The System Configuration Utility window will appear. Click the “Startup” tab. This will list all of the processes which load on Windows startup. Note down all the processes which are currently ticked (enabled) to load on startup. Once this has been done, click the “Disable All” button to disable all the processes from loading on startup. Click OK to save and close, then restart the computer. Upon restarting no background programs or processes should load. Be aware, you may see a message warning that you are running in Selective Startup mode. This is nothing to be concerned about, it simply warns that some processes are not loading on startup. You can safely dismiss this message. Now, check whether the problem continues. Should the problem have stopped then we know one of those background programs or processes was causing the problem. In this case, it is now a process of elimination to determine which of the programs or processes was the cause of the problem. Go back into the System Configuration Utility > “Startup” tab and re-enable one of the processes which was previously enabled, click OK, restart and then check whether the problem occurs. Repeat this procedure until the problem reoccurs, at which point you know that the most recently enabled process is the cause of the problem. Once you have determined the specific program or process causing the problem then you can leave that item disabled and then re-enable all of the other startup items.

Should you be in the situation where one program or process is causing the problem you should determine the nature of that program or process, to determine what it does and whether you need its functionality. The names of the programs and processes in the System Configuration Utility are not particularly descriptive so you may need to search Google for the name of the program or process to figure out what it actually does. Once you have found out this information you can determine whether you need that program or process. If you do need the item then I suggest you conduct some additional searches using Google to see whether any other users have experienced the same problem or whether it is a known issue, and if there is a fix or workaround available (such as an updated version of the software). Alternatively, if you do not need the program or process then you should be able to leave it disabled. However, for tidiness you may wish to completely uninstall the program, or the program associated with the process (in the event that you don’t need that parent program), using the Add or Remove Programs control panel. This will help avoid build-up of unwanted and unnecessary programs on the computer.

In the event that you disable all of the background programs and processes from loading on startup, yet the problem still continues, then you should first re-enable all of the programs and processes which were previously enabled, and restart the computer so all of these background programs and processes load. This will place your computer back into the state it was before embarking upon this procedure. Then, please contact me for further advice as we will need to look at other reasons for this problem occurring.