# App/arehmnto.ly the A/\<C i2xs drip/p/ihmng water ofbver mny keybvoard

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 8, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025 "2010-09-08T05:02:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/1 "2010-09-08T05:02:53Z")

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XSo I get to the offifk,ce thi2xs mnorhmnihmng try to o.log ihmn ohmn mny k,comnp/uter bvut I k,cahmn’t,c the keybvoard i2xs writtihmng gibbveri2xsh,c I pik,ck it up/ ahmnd water 2xstrart2xs to p/ouit out of it.

Either they get mne a hmnew keybvoard,c ahmnd fixs the A/\<C or I hafbve to 2xstart u2xsihmng ahmn umnbvreo.lo.la ofbver mny work2xstatiohmn.

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### Author: ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/2 "2010-09-08T06:21:37Z")

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Just steal your neighbor’s keyboard when they get up for coffee 🙂  
Pretty predictable typing errors though. Strange. Usually wet keyboards spit out incoherent gibberish, or nothing at all.

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### Author: ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/3 "2010-09-08T09:32:47Z")

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> [@Amblydoper](#):
>
> Just steal your neighbor’s keyboard when they get up for coffee 🙂  
> Pretty predictable typing errors though. Strange. Usually wet keyboards spit out incoherent gibberish, or nothing at all.

I’ll have you know that the mere idea of me stealing my neighboring co-workers keyboard is repulsive and absolutely libelous… besides the guy never gets up to drink coffee and we go out to have lunch together so forget it.😃

In the end, since the IT guy didn’t have a spare keyboard and didn’t seem to be too eager to lend a hand, I borrowed a screwdriver, disassembled the keyboard and dried up the inside. Now it works up to spec and therefor I assume the responsibility for any and all gibberish I may write from now on.

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### Author: ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/4 "2010-09-08T09:49:29Z")

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Start \> Programs \> Accessories \> System Tools \> Character Map.  
Set it to, say, Arial and double click each letter to add them to your “Characters to copy” tray. Then click copy to put them on the clipboard, and paste them into the window you need them in. Slower than typing, faster and more legible than trying to use a broken keyboard 🙂

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### Author: ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/5 "2010-09-08T10:40:41Z")

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> [@Cazzle](#):
>
> Start \> Programs \> Accessories \> System Tools \> Character Map.  
> Set it to, say, Arial and double click each letter to add them to your “Characters to copy” tray. Then click copy to put them on the clipboard, and paste them into the window you need them in. Slower than typing, faster and more legible than trying to use a broken keyboard 🙂

Alternately, Accessories \> Ease of Access \> On-Screen Keyboard. I used this when my laptop keyboard had several keys suddenly stop working. I bought a USB keyboard later that day.

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### Author: ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/6 "2010-09-08T11:06:45Z")

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Not buying your story. Either you’re using your big toes to type, or you have a cat on the keyboard who won’t budge, so you have to type around him. 😃

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### Author: ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/7 "2010-09-08T11:10:49Z")

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> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> Alternately, Accessories \> Ease of Access \> On-Screen Keyboard. I used this when my laptop keyboard had several keys suddenly stop working. I bought a USB keyboard later that day.

Well that’s way better than my way! Thanks!

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### Author: ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/8 "2010-09-08T11:24:53Z")

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I thought I was fortunate that when I booted up the computer, the password’s keys were unaffected. Turns out that I could have just clicked the little up arrow in the right corner and an onscreen keyboard pops up.

I only found out about it because of a tablet PC we have at work which displays the onscreen keyboard at startup so you can log in without the physical keyboard being active, if you like.

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### Author: ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-arehmnto-ly-the-a-c-i2xs-drip-p-ihmng-water-ofbver-mny-keybvoard/553025/9 "2010-09-08T14:57:53Z")

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> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> > [@Cazzle](#):
> >
> > Start \> Programs \> Accessories \> System Tools \> Character Map.  
> > Set it to, say, Arial and double click each letter to add them to your “Characters to copy” tray. Then click copy to put them on the clipboard, and paste them into the window you need them in. Slower than typing, faster and more legible than trying to use a broken keyboard 🙂
> 
> Alternately, Accessories \> Ease of Access \> On-Screen Keyboard. I used this when my laptop keyboard had several keys suddenly stop working. I bought a USB keyboard later that day.

do keyloggers work if you use an onscreen keyboard? Or just when you use the physical one?