If you leave the wifi connection on, it can drain the battery even if you are not doing anything. At least, this is the case with my Kindle. So check that.

This morning Rose pressed some combination of keys on my mom's laptop keyboard that has caused the keys to function weirdly. As best I can tell, they are all working as though I've pressed Ctrl first. So if I just press P, for example, it thinks I've pressed Ctrl+P, and it starts trying to print.

What has happened, and how can I fix it? It must be a fairly easy fix, but I'm not real familiar with this computer & keyboard and I can't figure it out.

That is the feature Sticky Keys in action. Try pressing shift five times. If that doesn't work, you can turn it off in the Control Panel, in the accessibility options.

That doesn't seem to be it, Gris, though I'm sure it's something like it. I went to the Control Panel and there's a box that says Turn on Sticky Keys, but it's unchecked. I tried checking it and unchecking it again, but it didn't make a difference.

OK, I restarted the computer* and it fixed the problem, whatever it was!

*I know, I know. I was hoping I wouldn't have to restart because I had a bunch of open tabs I didn't want to lose, but then I accidentally closed several of them anyway.

Edit: For the record, I also tried to open a Word document and it brought up a message saying "It looks like you are holding down the CTRL key. Would you like to open Word in safe mode?" I don't know that happened or why I couldn't turn it off, but at least it's fixed now.

At least, this is the case with my Kindle. So check that.

I probably haven't set up the new one on as many networks yet.

Still, it's a powerful difference. What the hell are those things doing when you're not reading them? Surely they should be idling waiting for user input or a push from the mothership. Is having its ears open really that taxing?

Yeah, I keep the wifi on my kindle off except in the few minutes when I am actively downloading something (I'll often send several things to it, and only a day later turn on the wifi--it's like little surprises!). Helps the battery last forever instead of just a long time.

That is the feature Sticky Keys in action.

I think you turn it off by pressing both shift keys at the same time. Or maybe it's both Ctrl keys.

New gmail.

Not a fan as the number of new emails that list in the browser tab don't reflect actual amount of new emails. It says five when I have more like ten. Do I have to click each tab to find out if I have New instead of being able to glance at the browser tab with the actual total?

I just disabled all the tabs except for the Primary. Problem solved.