Terry K -

Sure, your laptop has a NumPad. It's just "overlaid" on the other keys, and you have to "turn on" a NumPad switch everytime you use it, and turn it off when you want to type normally. p.i.a. but it's there.

If you found the Windows Character Map (Usually Start-Programs-Accessories-SystemTools) it should have all the characters you have installed, including the ones on the keyboard. The standard icon for this utility looks like a single keyboard key (they say). The "pound" symbol may not be in all the fonts, so look in the one you want to use. If this works, I'd suggest putting a short cut on desktop. You do have to click on the character, then click "select," then click "copy," then go to your other program and "paste." What pastes will probably be some strange size, so you may need to format the character size, italics, bolding, etc. Nuisance, but workable, and it should work in nearly any program.

In Word, if you use the Insert-Symbol, after you pick the character, before you hit Insert, you can click on the "Shortcut" button and put a keystroke combination in that will let you "type" the character whenever you need it at least in Word. It's recommended that you use an Alt-something, Ctl-something, etc to keep the shortcuts out of the way of your regular typing. It should warn you if you pick something that's already in use.

The shortcut key combinations that you create in the Insert Symbol panel are stored as "document properties," so you may have to reset them in each new document. If you can get them set in a template (.dot) then they should work in any document you open using that template. Word may ask if you want to save changes to the template when you exit, and it may save the shortcuts to the .dot you use if you say yes - but no guarantees with this. (I rather dislike "Insert-Symbol" for other reasons, so don't use it much.)

John