mac geekery

I just updated to 10.4.9 and mac mail is mapping keyboard alphabet characters incorrectly both when I type and in old messages (only for messages from certain people, the majority display fine).

My alphabet when typing in mail is:

OPcdefghijklNMoBqrstuvwxyz (caps are letters switched)

the a=o, b=p, m=n, n=m, o=a, p=b. When I hit those keys on the keyboard the other characters come up, but only in mac mail.

I was advised in another forum to created a new user account and log back in to check and see if the problem is system wide. It is not. Mail works fine in another user account.

I have tried going back into my main account and deleting the following files:
user/libary/preferences/com.apple.mail
everything in – user/library/mail folder
everything in – user/libary/caches/mail folder

Then I re-setup mail and still am having the issue.

If this is an issue with a user preference file, I can’t find the corrupted file. Are there any known viruses that can cause this? I’ve been told that mac mail could be mapping my keyboard to an international standard. I was directed to this site, any ideas how to fix?