Could an Italian keyboard be causing username problems ?

My wife uses an Italian keyboard in an otherwise English (UK) system. The computer was purchased in the UK. Italian is the only input language available in the drop down box, and an Italian keyboard has been selected in that part of the set up.

She quite frequently has problems being recognised when logging on to UK websites she has previously registered with, when the username is her email address, which contains the "@" character. Sometimes she has difficulty registering with websites, because of an error, sometimes specifically an unrecognised character.

When the "@" character is typed on the keyboard, that character appears on the screen. Emails generally work OK, though she sometimes has problems with her BTInternet ID, but that seems to be quite common with others also.

Although this is probably not a Windows 7 issue, she is using Windows 7.

Apart from the obvious (try an English keyboard), can anyone help me ? Has anyone else experienced anything similar ?

Thanks for any help offered.

I'm not quite following this.... you have a PC that is setup for UK but physically the keyboard is Italian ? right ? If you are having character problems, the obvious solution which you have alluded to is to buy a UK keyboard and add the driver in W7 via the control panel - if you don't know how to do that I can help.

Have I missed something ?

The only thing you have missed is that my wife likes her Italian keyboard, and is reluctant to change to an English keyboard. I know how to change the keyboard; I will probably run a test this weekend.
I was hoping a guru would through and say "I'm not surprised you are having problems", with an explanation, but it seems like my topic is very much left field, as they say.
Thanks for your interest.

Well, you didn't actually say your wife likes her Italian keyboard, and is reluctant to change to an English keyboard..... so I didn't miss it.

You mentioned there was only one language available in the drop down, which suggests Italian has been previously chosen as the default. All other languages can be added as required if you decided to change keyboard.

As far as the problem with the characters is concerned - is it just the "@" symbol that is creating the problem. If all the keys show on screen as they should then clearly the OS is interpreting them correctly.

Sorry if I have not been of help.

I don't know for sure that it is the "@" symbol. The reason I think it could be the "@" symbol is that to get this on the Italian keyboard, you have to use the "Alt Gr" key, which is very rarely used on the English keyboard. The symbol is being dosplayed corectly on screen. The Italian keyboard with it's associated settings in the computer set up are the only differences in her system, from a conventional system, mine for example, where this problem is not encountered.
Again, thanks for your interest.

You should not need the leading zeros.... hold Alt (not Alt Gr) then 64 (on the numpad) will get you the @ symbol.