Windows 10: Weird problem: Only way to get the = sign is to have Caps Lock on and pressing it without...

So, the only way I can get an = sign is to have Caps Lock on and pressing the = sign. Every other way gives a + sign.


Pressing = gives +

Shift+ = gives +

Caps Lock+ = gives =

Caps Lock+ & Shift+ gives +



This doesn't happen with the - key.


Pressing - gives -

Shift+ - gives _

Caps Lock+ - gives -

Caps Lock+ & Shift+ - gives _



All is normal with the - key as far as I can tell.

Any ideas? I'd appreciate any help. It's so tough to use excel with this problem.

Please forgive me and maybe help me move the question if I chose the wrong topic.

:)

 

Press Shift Key to turn off Caps Lock

Actually, I get asked this quite a lot

There is, however, a very good reason to prefer this (old) „Typewriter Caps lock“-behavior over the new default, and it's simply this: if „Press the SHIFT key“ (instead of „Press the CAPS LOCK key“) is selected, then the behavior of „Caps lock“ changes from being a „toggle key“ to being a key that can only be used to turn „Caps lock“ on – to turn „Caps lock“ off, one has to press (either) one of the Shift keys.

This can be advantageous for touch typists, who are used to writing long passages of text without looking at the keyboard, and especially so if they're (C/C++) programmers, who may still regularly find themselves typing in variable names of CONSTANTS_IN_UPPERCASE.

That's because, if Caps lock is not a toggle key, it's not necessary to keep track of its current „toggle state“ in your head:

• If I want „Caps lock“ to be on, I can press CAPS as often as I like. If it happened to be enabled already, nothing changes; otherwise, I can be sure it's enabled afterwards.
  
  
• If I want „Caps lock“ to be off, I can simply press SHIFT

This sounds like a hypothetical advantage, but it's not. I work as a programmer, and I often find myself typing in code like the following:

/* Some debugging code; will only be included in debug builds: */
#if defined _DEBUG

Afterwards, I may pause a little, to think about the code line I would like to type in next. Now, if „Caps lock“ is a toggle key, I may (once I decide to continue) be unsure if I actually remembered to turn „Caps lock“ off at the end of ‘_DEBUG’.

Did I? Did I not? – The only way to be sure, is to look.

This is not so, if the „Press the SHIFT key“ behavior is enabled. If unsure, I can just press SHIFT once, be sure of the set state, and merrily continue may way.

That, for me, is the single most important reason to prefer the „Press the SHIFT key“ setting. Also, interestingly, this used to be the default behavior in the old days … at least, until Microsoft decided to ditch Windows 9x in favor of Windows NT¹.

¹ Actually, my memory could be wrong in this regard and I'm not completely sure … maybe someone more knowledgeable in those matters can confirm that the „Caps lock“ default behavior was indeed changed during the switch from Windows 9x to Windows XP?

 

Disable Caps Lock on Windows 10?

The below does not disable CAPS LOCK; instead it converts CAPS LOCK into SHIFT LOCK.

• Right-click Start
• Choose Control Panel.
  
• Under Clock, Language and Region, choose
  Change input methods.
• On the left, choose
  Advanced Settings.
• Near the bottom, click on
  Change language bar hot keys (this is a blue link)
• On the Advanced Key Settings tab, select Press the Shift key
  radio button.
• Click OK, then Save

After this change:

• You press the CAPS LOCK key puts the keyboard in all-caps mode
• You press the SHIFT key to turn off CAPS LOCK and exit all-caps mode.
  • Note that pressing CAPS LOCK again
    will not turn off CAPS LOCK; only by pressing either SHIFT key will CAPS LOCK turn off.

This is similar behavior to how the SHIFT LOCK key works on typewriters.

 

Caps Lock ONLY Toggles On/Off By Pressing Shift Key While Pressing Caps Lock.

So for whatever reason, my caps lock can only be turned on and off while I'm pressing the shift (or ctrl) key along with the caps lock key. If someone could help me figure out how to make it so I can turn caps lock on and off just by pressing the caps
lock key without needing to press the shit or ctrl key, it would be greatly appreciated. (I'm unsure of the category so I just picked windows settings.)