Cherry Keyboards 'R' Us Blog

Keyboard Problems - characters are in the wrong place…

A very, very common problem is incorrect characters appearing on the screen. While this may initially look as if it’s a keyboard problem when characters like the ‘#’ symbol appear on your number 2 key, or the £ sign is completely inaccessible, this is in fact a Windows installation error and is easily corrected.

To explain what’s happened. When Windows is installed, you’re asked to go through a number of screens to set the system up. One of these, while not looking particularly important, asks the user to select the language of the PC required. By default, the lovely people at Microsoft, pre-set this to ‘US-English’ and the majority of users bypass this without even noticing. This needs to be set to ‘UK-English’ for the keyboard’s language to be exactly the same as the one shipped with the PC, or that has been purchased as an add-on.

 Changing this is simple - just a little lengthy in it’s solution! Within XP, follow the following procedure:

1.  Open Control Panel (Start -> Settings -> Control Panel).
2. Go to the ‘Regional and Language Options’ icon and double-click
3. A new window will open, showing the ‘Regional Options’, with the ‘Standards and Formats’ no doubt set to ‘English - United States’. In the drop-down box at the top, select ‘English - United Kingdom’ and all the attributes will change to pound signs, correct date formats and number settings.
4. Change the ‘Location’ at the bottom of the screen to United Kingdom, if this hasn’t been done already.
5. At the top of the window, there are two tabs. Click the one marked ‘Languages’ and the screen will change once again.
6. Click the ‘Details’ button and the screen will change once more.
7. At the top of this new screen, ensure that the ‘Default Input Language’ is set to ‘English (United Kingdom) - United Kingdom’
8. Under ‘Installed Services’, press the ‘Add’ button to the right and ensure that English (United Kingdom) is the Input Language and the Keyboard layout/IME is also set to English and not US.
9. Press OK to close the ‘Add Input Language’ window.
10. Click once on the ‘English (United States)’ shown in the Installed Services window to highlight it, then press the ‘Remove’ button. Windows may well give an error message at this stage, stating that the language can’t be removed as it’s in use - after a re-start of the system, this will be removed.
11. Lastly, ensure that you press the ‘Apply’ button to exit the Text services and Input languages window.

This should then ensure that the language for the keyboard is now set to UK English, rather than US English.

It’s also worth mentioning that Microsoft Office should be checked to ensure that it’s set to UK English - otherwise spellings will be incorrect.

How long is the recommended battery life of a optical mouse?

As optical mice are constantly ‘on’ (albeit in a slightly reduced power state), the light that’s emitted from the optical sensor will be a drain on batteries. To give an accurate timescale on how long the batteries will last within one of Cherry’s mice is so difficult, as this is all dependent upon usage. Generally, you would expect anything between 6 and 8 weeks per battery set (even high-power Duracell versions) -  but if it’s being used heavily during the day, then the life will be shortened. Optical and laser mice are a nightmare with battery life generally and it’s not only us that suffer with the problems. Logitech were claiming 3 weeks life expectancy at one stage with a set they supplied……. The best bet for any customer though is the Ergo Shark- although more expensive, the battery life is controlled because of the internal rechargeable batteries that are supplied in the mouse itself. Even then, (and I use the Ergo Shark mouse at home) I only get 3-4 weeks out of the batteries before they need recharging.

 Having said this with the Ergo Shark Mouse, when the batteries start to deplete in power, the red scroll wheel light comes on - and stays on for periods in excess of a week before completely giving up and have to be charged.

Battery life in both keyboards and mice is solely dependent upon usage though. There is no specific formula for battery life expectancy, other than to say if you’re a heavy computer user, they won’t last as long as with a more infrequent user.