How do I make the ¬ symbol?

Does your laptop have a "Fn" key that brings up alternate key functions? I haven't looked at recent ones, but my Inspiron 8100 does (as have all the old Toshibas I've owned), and it simulates the number pad on the block of keys from 7-0 down to M-/. In this case, "Fn+Alt MJ7K" produces ¬

That's odd. Maybe it depends on the browser. You might have to do some hunting to find if your browser has some keyboard shortcuts that preempt the character codes. Make sure the keyboard is mapped the same on yours as mine. On mine the keypad numbers are in blue on the keys (or at least they were before they wore off). It's possible your layout is a little different. And remember that you need to hold down FN and Alt throughout. Try some other alternate character codes and see if they work. That should indicate whether the basic process is working. FN-Alt-0-2-3-3 should give you an é, and since it's all on the bottom rows, it might indicate whether there's an overlap with only certain keys. The only other thing I can suggest, which is a clumsy workaround, but will always work, even when alt key combos don't (I always had key code problems in Firefox 1.x) is to open the Windows character map ( start-run-charmap if it isn't on your run menu), select and copy the character and then paste it in. Since the character in question is a standard one in most fonts, it doesn't matter which font you open in the character map. You copy the code, not the font, so when you paste it in it won't come out in the odd font. The character map seems to be a forgotten app, left off the menu since Win 3.1. But it's still there.

Character codes only work when NUM LOCK is enabled. Otherwise the keypad does arrows and shortcut keys, and 7 is always "home."