Typing gobbledegook into browsers

[Charlie Hurley]

I am having quite a few problems when typing text into my browsers, particularly Google Search or entering a URL.

My PC operates MS Vista & I currently have three browsers. IE by default, Google Chrome (which is my preference) & Safari, which I loaded one day when Chrome was running very, very slowly.

Basically Safari is working fine. I have no problems with it, and I used it to set up this request. But when I type into Chrome I get gobbledegook.

For example, if I type Microsoft , I get }asdfghjk. The search is done on the basis that I requested} asdfghjk. Type Microsoft again & I get £4567890-

But if I type the same letter many times over I get different results. E.g. the letter q (10 times) I get vbnm,./-+\. But if I try again & type qx10 this time I get nm,./-+\12.

Other applications work fine, such as Word, Excel etc.

To try & fix this I have bought a new keyboard. No change.

I have ZoneAlarm security & ran a full Anti Virus / Anti Spyware scan. It took over 3 hours & identified no problems at all.

I mentioned that I have Internet Explorer. This has the same problems as Chrome. In desperation I loaded Firefox. This also displayed gobbledegook.

Has anyone got any great ideas? Many thanks

[Taf]

A failing graphics card can do this, but it's usually universal AFAIK.

[arcimedes]

There does seem to be a pattern to what is being displayed although I am at a loss as to why safari works. I hesitate to suggest a reinstall of Windows but if no one else comes up with an idea it cant do any harm.

[Taf]

During boot-up are any of the messages scrambled too?

Happened to me a few years back using firefox .It seems the language has been changed in your browsers except safari .My solution was to reset the language in firefox to UK English.I was told that a combination of key strokes had acted like a 'hotkey' and changed the language to something like Devorik or something .
I'm not a geek so i can't say that was definitely the reason

[qasdfdsaq]

It's possible but normally in those situations typing the same letter repeatedly would get the same output repeatedly.

What happens if you use the on screen keyboard?

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Taf

A failing graphics card can do this, but it's usually universal AFAIK.

I can't say I've ever know a failing graphics card specifically change ASCII characters around and nothing else when drawing 2d images on screen.

The graphics card has no idea that it's drawing letters, would be odd if that were the issue.

[Taf]

This is only minor compared to what I have seen

[alanbjames]

Dodgy Ram, Dodgy Board (Try a Bios update) or dodgy video card.

[Taf]

Delete font cache and reboot?

Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista C:\WINDOWS\system32\FNTCACHE.DAT

Windows 95, 98, and Me (you pour soul) C:\WINDOWS\ttfCache

[alanbjames]

Taf the windows font cache is not going to have that affect on a bios.

I still reckon it is what i put above.

[djmagnifique]

I'd say hardware fault. although I'd rule out the ram as that only usually causes problems during the install of Windows in my personal experiance.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by alanbjames

Taf the windows font cache is not going to have that affect on a bios.

I still reckon it is what i put above.

Nobody said anything about it affecting the BIOS.

---------- Post added at 20:33 ---------- Previous post was at 20:32 ----------

Originally Posted by djmagnifique

I'd say hardware fault. although I'd rule out the ram as that only usually causes problems during the install of Windows in my personal experiance.

Doing what I said above would rule out or prove a hardware fault.

That said, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome all use different rendering methods, some use the built-in Windows font-processing, some use their own. Can't remember which was which but that could go some way towards explaining the browser-specific nature.

[Charlie Hurley]

I must thank everyone who has posted advice on solving my problem. I tried several of your ideas but eventually the answer was somewhat different.

I mentioned that I use Zone Alarm as my security system. This has recently been upgraded with "improvements". One of these was to their Anti-Keylogger option. It must be incompatible with Vista because when I turn off the Anti-Keylogger option the keyboards work correctly.

I plan to raise this with Zone Alarm as it sounds like a good idea - even if it doesn't work.

Once again thank you to everyone who posted their helpful replies.

[Mick Fisher]

ZA strikes again

Years ago ZA was the number one fall guy for all off the wall events on a PC particularly pertaining to Games. Over time it was replaced by Norton and almost forgotten about.

I expect their are zillions of happy ZA'er's but personally I would never install it.