I've posted this to a WinXP group too, but I'm hoping I might get some insight here from one of the programmers. Or perhaps a pointer to a more appropriate specialised group.
For years I've productively used a keyboard macro program, (called Stiletto, now obsolete and unsupported), which lets me enter commonly used text with a hotkey. I use it widely when opening and saving files, to go to specific folders. For example, typing '=ma' (without the quotes, of course) in any application's File Save As dialog enters 'D:\\Docs\\My Pictures\\Maps'. (The '=' character is a user-chosen prefix; it could be anything I like. Changing it doesn't solve the problem.)
Recently something very odd has started happening, and after much research I've still not isolated the cause. The *first* time I enter say '=ma', it doesn't work. Nothing happens. The '=ma' just sits there. But if I delete and re-enter it, the keyboard macro works as usual. While the dialog remains open, further hotkey entries all work OK. It's just that very *first* one that fails. The whole of it needs to be re-typed, BTW; not just the 'a' or the 'm' but the '=' too.
The most likely area to me seems Windows XP Explorer, but I'm not getting any further. Any ideas anyone?