On 16 Nov 2010, at 09:38, Thomas Traub wrote:
I can no longer enter the French word fenêtre, -or any ê into a document. [...]
Try Preferences → Software Update and hold ⌥ when you click Check Now.
The problem with ^ is stale dead key state that interferes with the following key events. I have tried to workaround it by skipping such info when I see it.