keyboard shortcuts

Is there a way to find out which program is stopping me from setting a keyboard shortcut. I need to set the "a" key to give me the "a" with the accent '. (spanish letter a). I use the right alt key + the vowels to get the letter. The e,i,o,u shortcuts work, but I can't get the a to work.
I found the following statement on the microsoft site:

A keyboard shortcut does not work if it conflicts with a keyboard combination that is used in the program that is currently active.

 

Alt+a opens Add to favorites for me when IE is open, so maybe that's your stopgap!

 

Your note made me think. I went in to see what all was running on the pc. The scanner was and it was the problem, I removed it from the startup and now the left alt+a gives me the á........

 

Cool beans!

Glad to have triggered the old gray matter for you!!