Check in the Tools Menu - Auto Correct.
You may have it setup to replace the @ with an =

The @ doesn't behave the same as an equal on my PC.

"rod" wrote:

If you type an @ symbol at the beginning of a cell it behaves in a similar
way to typing =. Indeed, it gets changed to = once you hit enter. Is it just
a synonym for = or does it do something else? Why is it not documented? I'm
getting errors loading data into excel programatically and I suspect its
because of a leading @ sign.