Apostrophe / Quote marks?

I've noticed this and I'm quite frustrated with it, but I am not sure if it's just vista, or a laptop issue... because I do not think this occurs with my desktop. But it happens on another one of my laptops with windows XP, so maybe it's just a laptop issue...

But as I am typing, I notice that when I use an apostrophe ' or a quote mark " the characters will only show up once the next key is hit, or I hit the space bar. Is there any way to change this so they show up WHEN I hit the key, like any other key?! It's pissing me off!

The apostrophe and the quote mark don't show up because they are waiting for a subsequent wovel to attach to as an accent mark ( '^' also behaves this way). I'm gonna disagree with the particular Anonymous who posted just above: the 'Keyboard layout/IME : US International' setting is actually causing this behavior (I use it on purpose). Win2K directions: go to Regional options -> Input locales tab, select the input language you use (probably 'English (United States)') and click Properties, select US instead of 'US international' from the 'Keyboard layout/IME' listbox, apply and you should be set. WinXP should provide some very similar way to set the keyboard layout.