The other day I ran into this issue with one of our customers who wanted to use the Dvorak keyboard as their default keyboard. This user was running Windows Vista and every time I would select the Dvorak keyboard to type, it would type using the Dvorak keyboard until I switched windows, it would then use the standard US keyboard. I searched high and low to find an answer online but didn’t find any that directly answered my question. I finally found the setting that allows you to make a secondary keyboard (like the Dvorak keyboard) your default keyboard for all program windows. The dumb part was it was in front of my eyes the whole time. Here are the steps to configure your keyboard on a Windows Vista computer:
Step One: Go to your Start Menu > Control Panel > Ease of Access Center
Step Two: Once Ease of Access Center is selected click on ‘Make the keyboard easier to use’.