# Skype and keyboard characters



## SorcererStone (Oct 17, 2010)

A closed friend of mine brought a Win8 laptop (Acer) last week. She ran into 2 problems which I have some problems helping her to resolve.

1/ The laptop (Win8) was setup using her Microsoft account which used her email account... She has an existing skype account using her gmail address. When she tried to access skype on the new computer, preinstall skype wants her to merge the existing skype (with gmail) account with her Microsoft account (which uses her ISP email address). She does not want to do that and wants her existing gmail skype account. Is the only way out is to uninstall the preinstalled skype in the new laptop and reinstall skype again? This way, she can use the existing skype account associated with her gmail.

2/ On the new laptop, the special characters like ~, !, @, #. $. %. ^ (i.e. those keys with dual characters) are stuck at some strange characters which she cannot get out of. These keys when strike display those funny European characters. (My friend is in Canada and when she setup her laptop, she chose English Canada). Is the keyboard defective or the language chosen during setup was incorrect? Note, when I remote in, the control panel clearly stated the language used is English Canada.

Thanks in advance.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

1. Reinstall and Install Skype but use the desktop version.

2. Is the PC fully updated to Windows 8.1 Update 1 + All windows updates?

See if installing the newest keyboard driver helps.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Go to Control Panel /Region and Language Settings Go to *Change Keyboards*. Check on *General* and *Advanced* tab that *English - Canada* is selected


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## SorcererStone (Oct 17, 2010)

Hello SF & MC,
Thanks for the feedback.
I had checked the language selected section in control panel, English Canada is selected. Not all keys responded with strange characters. Just the 2nd row of keys (the ones with numeral and punctuation only).
I had suggested calling the tech support (long queue on the line) since the laptop is less than 2 weeks old. But I want to make sure I covered all areas that I do on the user side first.
Do you think this is a defective keyboard issue?


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## SorcererStone (Oct 17, 2010)

OH, one more thing. the laptop has all the updates installed. It came with Win8.1 pre-installed. There is no more updates available from MS.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Since the PC is brand new, contact warranty and have them look.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Hold the* FN* key and press* NumLck key*, see if that changes things. Other then that contact their support, you can Chat with them online to not have to wait on the phone: Acer | Contact Acer


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