BlankHi, Paul, There could be many reasons. One is already mentioned that something like a virus checker is jumping in and taking focus. Another is a more common one. This is where there is dirt in the keyboard, the external mouse or, more common again, on the built-in mouse pad in a laptop. Another one that was told to me was that the mouse or keyboard may need a firmware update to interact properly with a more modern Operating System than it was envisaged to work with. I know these answers are vague, but it's the best we can do from this distance. Take Care, Gerry Ellis Tel +353-(0)1 282-7791 Mob +353-(0)85 716-8665 If you don't know where you're going, How will you know when you get there? ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Halligan To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:59 AM Subject: [vicsireland] position changing in word document hi folks i have a word document open and start typing . perhaps i have 8 or so sentences typed and am about to type some more when suddenly i find i may be at the beginning or halfway through the text i have just typed rather than at the end of the sentence i have just entered. it throws the entered text in a complete scramble and i end up having to go through the whole document and cut and paste and rearrange every few minutes. it also happens when i am composing e mail too, one moment i am writing the e mail and next the system just goes to the main outlook express page. with this latter problem i can press alt and tab and get back to where i was composing the e mail. any ideas? many thanks Paul h