The US International English keyboard layout is recommended for those who are comfortable with the qwerty keyboard and need a variety of accent marks or symbols. It uses an intuitive method which works with most (perhaps all) Windows applications such as MS Office and web page software, while keeping the familiar qwerty layout. The installation details are below.

To use, press one of the five punctuation keys `  ~  ^  '   "  , then the letter to be modified. 
' + a = á,  " + u = ü,  ' + c = ç     etc

Or use the right alt (or AltChar) key  + another key: 
right alt  + / = ¿    + 1 = ¡     + c = ©     + e  = é    +5 = €.   This image shows many more.


Note that this system maintains the "qwerty" layout. However, the modifier keys `  ~  ^  '   "  must sometimes be followed by pressing the space bar when they are actually intended. The system accepts common words, such as it's, without the space bar.

Layout Installation : Win XP: Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Regional and Language Options. Click the Language(s) tab. Click Details, then Add. Choose an Input language and a Keyboard Layout/IME. Use Apply to finish the process; the Windows installation CD may be needed. The keyboard or multilanguage sections in Start - Help may provide details. Screen images of the installation are here.

alt+shift  rotates through several language keyboards. Checking the Enable Indicator On Taskbar puts the default language on the taskbar. Or click the taskbar language icon to switch to another language. In Win XP, click the Preferences section for these steps.