Have a friend in Thailand who has recently had to install a copy of XP Pro. He also has Openoffice installed. He has a UK keyboard and has the UK keyboard set in XP's regional preferences. When he's using Openoffice he can type shift-3 and get the £ sign which is correct. When he types shift-3 into any web browser he gets the US keyboard # sign. Any ideas what's happening?

a copy of XP Pro

An illegal copy?

Does that make any difference to the question I asked? Do illegal copies of XP act differently whether they're being used in browsers or word processors? If you don't have an answer to my question just pass on by please.

Did you check advanced options under key settings in regional and language settings?

Also, have you removed US after adding UK keyboard?

The keyboard settings in Regional in Control panel are all ok. Only the UK keyboard is installed. It works as a UK keyboard in desktop applications. The only place it acts as a US keyboard is inside web browsers.

The keyboard settings in Regional in Control panel are all ok. Only the UK keyboard is installed. It works as a UK keyboard in desktop applications. The only place it acts as a US keyboard is inside web browsers.

Sounds like there is another keyboard that require you to change the layout when you are switching applications. Is the option for keyboard switching unticked under language>details>key settings?

I'm not sure. I'll Teamview in tomorrow and have a look although there's no US keyboard installed.

Upgrade to Win 7

It handles multiple languages seamlessly

I intend to upgrade when I visit in November but I'd like to get it sorted for him on XP until I arrive.

Internet Option, General Tab, Appearance, Languages allows you to choose the language priorities?