I was just going to suggest this. I use this method a lot as I sometimes have to type stuff in Portuguese but my UK keyboard doesn't have the accented characters like ã, ç, é, etc. I also frequently use Alt+0176 a lot for the ° symbol. Google 'Alt+' gives you loads of others.
My W key is a bit lazy at times, I suspect a crumb or something similar has got stuck in there, as it feels slightly stiffer than the rest. Have you been eating near your KB @Rat?