Malfunctioning Delete key on Panther applications

[hannibal]

i have a friend who owns an ibook g3 running on jaguar until he upgraded to panther just this afternoon. (he's not a philmugger yet by the way. reason why i am posting this thread for him)

here's his problem: about two weeks ago, he noticed that when using microsoft office apps (word, excel, powerpoint) the delete key isn't functioning. so he tried using key combinations as a workaround and he discovered that he has to press an additional key (shift key) with the delete key in order to erase letters and words.

i told him to try it with other apps like address book and safari and as i suspected, the delete key isn't functioning too. at this point, i am not sure what to tell him as this is the first time i encountered a 'glitch' like this.

what could be the problem here? please help me help my friend. TIA