Weird Shift Key

Hi, Sandra -

Those odd characters appear to be the set made available when holding down both Shift and Option. This could happen as a result of -

• your finger accidentally brushing the Option key when pressing Shift on the right (some keys can be very touchy)

• a mechanical alignment issue of some kind, such as the Shift keycap nicking the Option keycap when pressed, or the wafer switch for Option has drifted upward a bit

• a piece of dirt bridging the action of both keys.

I know this isn't going to sound helpful but maybe your keyboard is wearing out? Either that or perhaps the key cover is not on straight and it is bearing down on a neighboring function key when you press on it (or maybe you are with your fingers). On my keyboard (not a notebook) the shift key is near the option key and pressing the option key while pressing other keys will often produce some symbol-like font alternative. I have had key covers occasionally pop up a bit and do this. Again, I don't know your keyboard but on my desktop keyboard I can pry the cover off and reseat it.

[Clean and Repair your Mac keyboard: How-To Guide|http://lancej.blogspot.com/2008/04/clean-and-repair-your-mac-keyboard-how .html]

[Keyboard Repair|http://www.mactech.com:16080/articles/mactech/Vol.05/05.01/Keyboardrepai r/index.html]

[Apple Pro Keyboard repair|http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/bgracey/prokeyboardrepair.ht ml]

[Apple USB Keyboard (model M2452) repair|http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/bgracey/usbkeyboard/usbkeybo ard.html]

Is "wafer switch" something I can access and correct myself?

After reading all the above links? You can clean it, but if the switch is broken I doubt it is financially feasible.

Try a different keyboard if you have one.

Don't suggestions are basically reinforcing the ones I posted earlier.