By "no obvious reason," I mean that I'm not using typeIt4me or Synergy or any other obvious keyboard-related utility in either OSX or Windows. I'm using an dual-core Intel iMac, Max OSX 10.4.4. I first experienced the problem using the release version of Parallels, with a retail copy of Win XP Pro SP2. I updated to the beta version in hopes of fixing the problem; no change. When using Parallels, after a while, for no obvious reason, the Windows environment becomes insensitive to some of the modifier keys on the keyboard. This manifest most obviously in an inability to switch out of full-screen mode. The last time it occured, within Notepad I noticed that the "shift" key had no effect (shift-A types a lower-case A) although the "caps lock" key worked. If I command-tab out of Parallels and use TextEdit, the modifier keys work normally and the mouse (which is plugged into the keyboard's built-in USB hub) works properly in both environments. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) swapping keyboards does not cure the problem; the problem is obviously with the virtual keyboard, not the real keyboard. On the Windows side, I've installed Visual C++, Visual SourceSafe, Visual Studio, eTrust antivirus, the FirstClass email client, and not much else.
