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The spell checker is very useful in technical emails, so I set Word as my editor. I still use spell check when I write emails and proposals. But sometimes spell check flags a word that is correctly spelled or isn't in any dictionary. I have to print out and proofread what I write. There is no substitution for a good dictionary.

What I generally end up doing is using my spell checker as I go. Then I'll undo what it corrected, and fix it myself until I've learned how to properly spell the word. It can be good sometimes for things like that, but it's a complete waste of time as far as grammar goes.

I also have a poem to share.

"Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew."

It's useful when things like this occur:

Neccessary.

It may not compute at first, when looking at it. I mean, I used to have the problem of how many 'c's and how many 's's.

But it's one collar and two sleeves. =] Ok, I'm off subject, I know.

Using a spell checker is not necessarily a horrible bad thing but yes, it dose promote laziness. Sometimes there not right and sometimes they don't even have the right word in the spell checker but for the people that can't spell very good. I think it helps alot for them.

I love spell checkers but I think if you're writing a paper or something you should proofread the paper and then use a spell checker to make sure you got everything.

I like spell check, but I agree that it shouldn't replace proof-reading because of its faults, and because of a need for more than a basic understanding of spelling and grammar.

I'm rather attached to spell check, as my spelling skills are far from the best. Besides that, when I type quickly, the words are often jumbled, like "teh" instead of "the". And when I proof-read, sometimes I skip over mistakes, mentally correcting them as I read them, but forgetting to actually make the edit. "Teh", to use the former example, would go virtually unnoticed by me, since I know I meant "the". It helps with the little things like that, which I would overlook.

But at the same time, spell check, the grammar portion specifically, does some pretty stupid things. It wants semi-colons where they obviously don't belong, and has a terribly skewed perception of a sentence fragment.

I don't see how it could possibly encourage laziness. Really. If anything, I think it'd encourage any really lazy people to spell correctly, so they don't have to go back and fix stuff or deal with the annoying red squiggly lines beneath words. I don't know. I just can't find the connection between laziness and spell check.

I usually proof read my stuff as well. I don't like it that much because sometimes it doesn't catch grammar mistakes. Usually only things like the passive voice and stuff.

I usually only use spell check to catch spelling errors whenever I type too fast but I never depend on it. I tell people spell check only checks to see if the word is spelled correctly or is in the dictionary. I say that it's a good help aid but to be totally dependent on it is asking for trouble. I've proofread too many papers that have been ruined because they have only checked to see if the word is spelled correctly, not if they're using the right word. It creates laziness only to those who don't like writing or wish to excel in it.