!!pleh

[etsisk]

For some reason, which was cured by re-booting, my computer (I hate this damn dell laptop) started writing backwards ... so if I wrote:

I am Tom.

You would see:

.moT ma I

What would cause this P.O.S. Dell to do dat???

 

[SkyHog]

For some reason, which was cured by re-booting, my computer (I hate this damn dell laptop) started writing backwards ... so if I wrote:

I am Tom.

You would see:

.moT ma I

What would cause this P.O.S. Dell to do dat???

Interesting. Without a screenshot, I can't even picture how that's possible (we used to screw with people by changing the order of their keys, but it wouldn't reverse the type....

 

[JohnR]

.gel ruo gnillup er'uoy kniht I

 

[jesse]

For some reason, which was cured by re-booting, my computer (I hate this damn dell laptop) started writing backwards ... so if I wrote:

I am Tom.

You would see:

.moT ma I

What would cause this P.O.S. Dell to do dat???

Check your left arrow key on the keyboard. If it were to stick the above problem will happen. Some applications will show the cursor moving to the left and some won't.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Check your left arrow key on the keyboard. If it were to stick the above problem will happen. Some applications will show the cursor moving to the left and some won't.

Check the Home key, too; if it were stuck it would exhibit the same behavior. Not sure how rebooting would fix this, though...

Are there any viruses that do this?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I was thinking viruses too. I have a word macro that siht od em stel. We also used to play this game on unsuspecting users with TSRs back when MS-DOS ruled.

Could an international setting be off? The computer thinks it's in Arabia, Israel, but using one of the English typefaces?

 

[mikea]

˙pǝʇɔǝɟuı s,ʇı ɹo 'doʇdɐl ɹnoʎ uo ʞuɐɹd ɐ pǝpɐol ɹǝʞoɾ ǝɯos

 

[RJM62]

˙pǝʇɔǝɟuı s,ʇı ɹo 'doʇdɐl ɹnoʎ uo ʞuɐɹd ɐ pǝpɐol ɹǝʞoɾ ǝɯos

I have to concur. There are dozens of scripts and macros that will do that, but I'm not aware of any legitimate built-in backwards writing capability built into any software I've used. That's not to say it doesn't exist, but I haven't come across that function.

Note that there are some programs with mirror capability, and macros exist that can be intentionally loaded for this purpose. Many printer drivers also have mirror capability built in. But that's different from what you describe, Tom.

Mirroring is used by graphic arts people, engineers, and others who need to create mirror-image output. Probably the most common example would be software to create iron-on transfers. But this manipulation is performed on an entire image, which means the letters themselves would be mirrored, not just sequenced in backwards order. Also, the image (even if that image is composed strictly of text characters) is usually created in its normal orientation first, and then the mirror image is created afterwards.

So I, too think it's a prank or a virus.

--Rich

 

[RJM62]

Actually... There may be one exception, now that I think about it.

The Hebrew and Arabic languages are written from right to left. I suppose it's possible that if you have either of those character sets installed, some sort of event may have triggered that aspect of the output.

I have never seen this happen and would have to ponder exactly how it could, but I suppose it might be possible.

--Rich

 

[TangoWhiskey]

˙pǝʇɔǝɟuı s,ʇı ɹo 'doʇdɐl ɹnoʎ uo ʞuɐɹd ɐ pǝpɐol ɹǝʞoɾ ǝɯos

That's funny Mike. How'd you do that? It's not an image! It's text! Wow.

Anyway, nobody asked the original poster this question, which might resolve if it's a macro or something:

Does it do this backwards-typing thing in EVERY PROGRAM you use, or just one?

I.E. If it does it in MS Word, try Notepad. Try clicking Start/Run and type in the little box that appears. Does it do it there, too?

I know it's not doing it anymore, but maybe you'll recall what it was doing... or, if it starts doing it again, you can try this to narrow down the affected component.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

˙pǝʇɔǝɟuı s,ʇı ɹo 'doʇdɐl ɹnoʎ uo ʞuɐɹd ɐ pǝpɐol ɹǝʞoɾ ǝɯos

Sorry- I can't grok this. Looked at it as reverseed text and upside down text. What does it say? Perhaps with the plain text, I can work out the cyphertext.

 

[jesse]

Actually... There may be one exception, now that I think about it.

The Hebrew and Arabic languages are written from right to left. I suppose it's possible that if you have either of those character sets installed, some sort of event may have triggered that aspect of the output.

I have never seen this happen and would have to ponder exactly how it could, but I suppose it might be possible.

--Rich

You are missing the obvious, as I wrote above, I have seen this problem many times myself and it's always been a keyboard problem with the arrow keys. He's also on a laptop which generally is most prone to such a problem.

 

[jesse]

Sorry- I can't grok this. Looked at it as reverseed text and upside down text. What does it say? Perhaps with the plain text, I can work out the cyphertext.

Just read it word by word, not letter by letter, and it's easy. He wrote "some joker loaded a prank on your laptop or it's infected."

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Jesse- now that you filled in the missing letters, it makes sense (when read upside down). I see a number of squares in place of letters, so I get less than 50% of the text.

 

[RJM62]

You are missing the obvious, as I wrote above, I have seen this problem many times myself and it's always been a keyboard problem with the arrow keys. He's also on a laptop which generally is most prone to such a problem.

Yes, a stuck key can cause this. But why would the reboot cure it? A reboot wouldn't unstick the key.

 

[jesse]

Yes, a stuck key can cause this. But why would the reboot cure it? A reboot wouldn't unstick the key.

No. But he didn't define what a "reboot" was. Perhaps it was him trying it later. Perhaps him rebooting meant closing the laptop. Perhaps he smacked the keyboard in frustration.

 

[jesse]

Jesse- now that you filled in the missing letters, it makes sense (when read upside down). I see a number of squares in place of letters, so I get less than 50% of the text.

I saw every character. But I'm running Firefox on Gnome with Linux.

 

[RJM62]

No. But he didn't define what a "reboot" was. Perhaps it was him trying it later. Perhaps him rebooting meant closing the laptop. Perhaps he smacked the keyboard in frustration.

LOL, that would be what's known as a "hard restart."

 

[etsisk]

No. But he didn't define what a "reboot" was. Perhaps it was him trying it later. Perhaps him rebooting meant closing the laptop. Perhaps he smacked the keyboard in frustration.

Heheh... no - though I WANT to be a luddite, I must confess to having a bit o' technical knowledge. My "reboot" was actually a reboot - I turned the whole box o' circuits off and turned it back on again, at which point all was well.

I had dropped the wireless mouse and may have pressed some keys by accident as I twisted around trying to keep the thing from falling into the depths of the recliner - what are the keystrokes for that macro y'all were talking about? Maybe it's that. I don't think the arrow key got stuck, but it's a damn Dell, so ANYthing could be happening with this piece of ... laptop.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I saw every character. But I'm running Firefox on Gnome with Linux.

I'm just running a plain vanilla Windoze system that does what I need running IE 6. This was the only thing I didn't see properly, no need to change it since it isn't really broken.

 

[AuntPeggy]

A) Space Aliens
B) Cosmic Rays
C) Random Acts of Mischief

 

[RJM62]

Heheh... no - though I WANT to be a luddite, I must confess to having a bit o' technical knowledge. My "reboot" was actually a reboot - I turned the whole box o' circuits off and turned it back on again, at which point all was well.

I had dropped the wireless mouse and may have pressed some keys by accident as I twisted around trying to keep the thing from falling into the depths of the recliner - what are the keystrokes for that macro y'all were talking about? Maybe it's that. I don't think the arrow key got stuck, but it's a damn Dell, so ANYthing could be happening with this piece of ... laptop.

Tom,

I don't know of any program that has reverse text as a built-in macro. It's hard to think of too many practical applications for that functionality. But there have been macros written to do that, either as pranks or because someone actually needed that ability. You can download a lot of oddball macros here and elsewhere on the Internet -- at your own risk. Personally, I advise to never download a macro that you don't actually need. And of course, always use trustworthy sources.

As for the mirror printing, that's very common. Most halfway-decent graphics programs, some printer drivers, and even MS-Word have it built-in -- sort of.

To mirror text in Word, you have to create the text line(s) using the Word Art feature (accessible through the Drawing toolbar) and then "flip" the image horizontally. Kind of a kludgey way to do it, but it works well enough if you're only working with a few lines.

The procedure in OpenOffice.org is sort of similar: Create the text as a text box in a drawing (or use Fontworks), right-click on it, and select Flip / Horizontal. Also a little cumbersome for a large document (earlier versions had an easier way to do it, if I recall), but at least OpenOffice.org is free.

--Rich

 

[etsisk]

Thanks for the info, Rich - nah, those things are all complicated enough that it wouldn't have been something I might have done accidentally while dropping/picking up the mousie.

I think it's just a damn Dell demon.

 

[RJM62]

Considering their market share, I'm not sure I encounter proportionately more problems on Dell laptops than any others. There are so many of them out there that it's hard to say.

Right now, I think Acer laptops are a great value, but they're not very rugged. (Although I will say that mine rides in my backpack in the car [and occasionally an airplane] and has held up well, so I shouldn't complain.)

I used to like Toshiba, but I've come across a lot of hinge failures in recent years.

I always liked the old IBM Thinkpads, but I'm still undecided whether Lenovo is going to maintain the quality tradition. (IBM/Lenovo laptops also tend to run Linux pretty well with little or no hacking required.)

HP and Compaq put too much garbage on their machines; I wind up spending an hour uninstalling it to make the machine usable.

--Rich

 

[terzap]

A) Space Aliens
B) Cosmic Rays
C) Random Acts of Mischief

In case of A or B, an aluminum foil deflector shield should fix the issue. And don't forget to fashion one for yourself.



Hope you resolve the issue!

 

[AuntPeggy]

In case of A or B, an aluminum foil deflector shield should fix the issue. And don't forget to fashion one for yourself.



Hope you resolve the issue!

The good news for those of us who fly metal airplanes is we are protected by the aluminum surround whenever we fly. They can't read our thoughts either. If you fly a cloth airplane, consider placing a sheet of foil under your headset. Aluminum, of course.

 

[Bill]

The good news for those of us who fly metal airplanes is we are protected by the aluminum surround whenever we fly. They can't read our thoughts either. If you fly a cloth airplane, consider placing a sheet of foil under your headset. Aluminum, of course.

MIT testing has shown taht a foil cap may actually help their abilities to read our thoughts.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/

 

[etsisk]

MIT testing has shown taht a foil cap may actually help their abilities to read our thoughts.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/

Gasp! Oh, no! Oh, no!! ....

 

[mikea]

That's funny Mike. How'd you do that? It's not an image! It's text! Wow.
...

lɯʇɥ˙dılɟ\ɯoɔ˙pɐɟʌǝɹ˙ʍʍʍ\\:dʇʇɥ

˙ǝʇıs qǝʍ ɐ uo looʇ ɐ ǝsn noʎ ɟı ʎsɐǝ s,ʇı

¿sıɥʇ 'ʇɐɥʍ




It uses a language or font that IE doesn't understand. The noive of these guys to use standards instead of what Redmond writes.

 

[EdFred]

IE 7, WIN XP I can read it all no problemo.

 

[mikea]

"¿ƃuıʞsɐɯ ǝƃɐnƃuɐl ǝʇɐıɹdoɹddɐuı" sıɥʇ sı

¡sdoO

 

[wsuffa]

V'z fhecevfrq gung ab bar unf cbfgrq va EBG-13. Ubj zhpu bs n trrx ner lbh?

 

[mikea]

V'z fhecevfrq gung ab bar unf cbfgrq va EBG-13. Ubj zhpu bs n trrx ner lbh?

¿bɹɔɔʌʎs 31-ƃqǝ ƃɥqou ɾqn ˙ǝɹɟǝqɾ ɹǝqz

SHHHH, Nobody tell.

 

[gprellwitz]

Okay, youse guys going to make me go back to my old UU-net tools that had ROT-13 built in? I can't do that by just looking at it! (Which was, of course, the point!)

 

[TangoWhiskey]

MIT testing has shown taht a foil cap may actually help their abilities to read our thoughts.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/

Hah! That's funny Bill!

Almost more hilarious is that the pro-helmet folks wrote a rebuttal to expose the fallacies of the MIT study:

http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectiveness

Also, one has to wonder if wrapping aluminum foil around the hockey puck GPS antenna would improve it's performance/reception:

Results
For all helmets, we noticed a 30 db amplification at 2.6 Ghz and a 20 db amplification at 1.2 Ghz, regardless of the position of the antenna on the cranium. In addition, all helmets exhibited a marked 20 db attenuation at around 1.5 Ghz, with no significant attenuation beyond 10 db anywhere else.

Conclusion
The helmets amplify frequency bands that coincide with those allocated to the US government between 1.2 Ghz and 1.4 Ghz. According to the FCC, These bands are supposedly reserved for ''radio location'' (ie, GPS), and other communications with satellites (see, for example, [3]).

 

[Cap'n Jack]

lɯʇɥ˙dılɟ\ɯoɔ˙pɐɟʌǝɹ˙ʍʍʍ\\:dʇʇɥ

˙ǝʇıs qǝʍ ɐ uo looʇ ɐ ǝsn noʎ ɟı ʎsɐǝ s,ʇı

¿sıɥʇ 'ʇɐɥʍ




It uses a language or font that IE doesn't understand. The noive of these guys to use standards instead of what Redmond writes.

Copy it into MS word & you can see it.

 

[Eamon]

Hey Tom.... All better now??


Here is my aluminum protector

 

[etsisk]

[quote-Eamon]Here is my aluminum protector [/quote]

Born to be mi-i-ild, born to be mi-i-ild...

Yep, just fine now - got better as soon as I restarted the computer. But now I've gotten the blue screen o' death a couple of times ... "problem with windows and had to shut down. Mumble jumble mumble jumble something"

Have I mentioned that I really don't care for this laptop? Have I mentioned that? Just wondering.

I oughta be practicing cello...

 

[Eamon]

I oughta be practicing cello...

You say Cello, I say goodby

 

[RJM62]

I've gotten the blue screen o' death a couple of times ... "problem with windows and had to shut down. Mumble jumble mumble jumble something"

Tom,

If you can be a little more specific, maybe we can troubleshoot the errors. Probably more than 80 - 90 percent of these problems are software-related. (That's assuming ordinary and reasonable care; if you have been using your laptop to hammer nails, then all bets are off.)

Or better yet, find a GOOD local tech with a lot of experience and a good reputation, and have him/her look at it. You'd be surprised at the miracles a trained, experienced geek (usually) can work on an ailing machine.

I know it's corny, but I hate to give up on a computer before all reasonable measures to try to save it have been exhausted. I take these machines, refurbish them, and sell them either locally or on eBay. Kinda makes me feel like I'm reprieving them from the gallows.

--Rich