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bizarre backspace and key problems

3K views 15 replies 3 participants last post by  PC person 
#1 ·
I just installed some windows updates, so now this problem is gone. I honestly though don't think the updates had anything to do with it.

I was trying to do an advanced google search and it wouldn't let me input text into the search form.

I also have a program called Aha Password manager and had wanted to correct one of my usernames of a message board by adding a letter that was supposed to be there, and it wouldn't let me. I deleted the entire field for the username then when I hit backspace it would ADD characters instead of deleting them.

I figured maybe this was a virus, and set AVG to do a complete scan of my hard drive. I wonder if AVG itself could be infected with a virus, as the complete scan should take more than a few minutes to complete, my hard drive has 40.6 gigs on it and I wanted to scan the entire thing.
 
#2 ·
This could fall into the security, rather than browser, category but does your AVG program scan for spyware as well as viruses (see the product range)? If only for viruses, it might be best to use a dedicated anti-spyware program as well to make sure nothing is affecting keyboard behaviour. If you suspect your AV program isn't working as it should, you could try using a trusted online virus scanner. Trend Micro and Panda are two that spring to mind.

The problem has cleared up anyway though? Was it a 'one-off'? If so, I wonder if it was a restart of the computer that made the difference, rather than the Windows updates.
 
#5 ·
Sorry about that link I posted, it doesn't get to the specific page that the links are on, I can't link to that page apparently.

I'm having some keyboard problems as I type right now and have to backspace and correct them, hoping it will work correctly the second time.

I did a full system scan and it did turn up some spyware, I hit the back button, but found out there was a way to see my results of my scan, which the tab for it worked the first 2 times, but now it won't load the results page for some reason.

I will definitely make some suggestions. Every scanner turns up cookies as malware, apparently not realizing you actually need some of them for things (like these boards for example, for it to recognize you when you arrive) scanners should diagnose what the cookies do, and whether they should be removed or not, not just mark them as malware and give the option to delete some or all of them.

I'd also like it if the scanner would estimate how long it will take to scan your computer, and have a progress bar as a scanner pretty much ties up your computer for an hour or more and using programs will slow down the scanner. I want to know how long my computer will be occupied for.
 
#7 ·
The kernel Housecall talks about is the scan engine needed to scan for viruses (see 3rd paragraph in this page).

Most spyware scanners will list some cookies as being spyware. These are 'tracking cookies'. They are not harmful to your computer but most people don't like them because they can track movements around the Internet. They are mostly used for advertising purposes. For this reason, scanners list them. If anything other than those are found, it would be worth mentioning the name(s) here.

If you have scanned your computer using a few utilities and nothing other than tracking cookies have been found, I think you can move on from the cause being malware based. Maybe others might like to give an opinion on that though.

Perhaps try what Kalim has suggested, or carry out a bit of computer 'house-keeping'. Empty browser caches, delete Temp files, do a defrag etc.
 
#9 ·
Its not an issue if it was recent or otherwise to be honest. What matters is any corruption can take place whenever. Yes, you require the XP install CD for most troubleshooting and here too. Did you try it?
OP: Do that first.
I just did, but I left it running while I was away, I expected to see the results of what was wrong and what it did, which didn't happen when I returned. When I just got back a few minutes ago, the dos command.com window was open and no other programs in my taskbar.


Do you have any System restores saved for when your PC was working well?
No, I don't use them, but I might start if they can help me with problems.
 
#10 ·
I just did, but I left it running while I was away, I expected to see the results of what was wrong and what it did, which didn't happen when I returned. When I just got back a few minutes ago, the dos command.com window was open and no other programs in my taskbar.

No, I don't use them, but I might start if they can help me with problems.
So you ran the integrity scans and you didn't get anything?!

Did you run the sfc/ scannow I mentioned?

If not run those. Also run THIS

See if anything is picked up and resolved.

System Restore should be enabled or when your system gets a little edgy and corrupt, you have nothing to revert back to that will keep all your files intact. Don't enable it now, it'll only save corrupted restore points which will have to be deleted later anyway.
 
#13 ·
Its not supposed to either.
Did it prompt you for the CD?
If it didn't or if it was inside and the CD never spun up, there's nothing of the system protected files missing/corrupt.

The last time I saw this happen was on Mozillazine forums because a user downloaded Firefox updates rather than delete the previous one and then install. I talked to a mod on there just this morning and she reminded me.
What happens is you type, and it starts typing a few letters backwards etc. Its a serious pain to type a message and takes eons!

Does this happen anywhere outside of Fx?

I'm pretty sure this is a browser issue and you'll have to open up Fx in SafeMode (extensionless) to see if it persists.
 
#14 ·
Its not supposed to either.
Did it prompt you for the CD?
If it didn't or if it was inside and the CD never spun up, there's nothing of the system protected files missing/corrupt.
I put the cd in the drive typed sfc/scannow, and it went through the whole process, then when it was finished just closed the progress bar, and that's all folks.


Does this happen anywhere outside of Fx?
Yes, see my previous posts.

Now it's doing all sorts of screwy things. I just had to reboot windows because it wouldn't let me type here, it would open another window instead. It's opening new tabs when I click a weblink. It's highlighting multiple icons on my desktop if I click on them one at a time (WITHOUT me holding control as a I do it) I got a message saying I didn't have permission to modify my ATI control panel, or something, even though I didn't attempt to. I don't know what the hell is going on.

I'll do another scan with trend micro and get rid of anything it says to, I need some cookies though, if it doesn't give me the option to keep the ones I want, and I must delete them along with the other malware I'm screwed.

I'm not going to reinstall windows, as I'd have to reinstall everything, we did this once before because of a problem I have with windows displaying the default icons and being slow (which still happens) when I start it. Maybe it was in something I put on a CD to carry over to the new computer. And, I want to know what this is so it doesn't happen again, I want to crush it like a bug.
 
#15 ·
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