Very weird! help me! what's wrong with my Windows XP?

[cfman]

Hi all,

I mostly use my laptop to remotely access the desktop at home. Both are
running Windows XP SP2 and all the updates are up-to-date.

Evey a few hours or a few days, the keyboard got messed up. For example, all
of a sudden, when I press "m", the current window got minimized and the
desktop is shown; when I press other keys, many unexpected things occured,
some random applications got launched, windows got closed, even the
"accessibility tools" such as the narrator got launched.

I believe this is because I've pressed some magic keys which invoked the
weird behavor. I had to reboot my PC every time when it occured. It also
seems that this only occurs when I remotely access the desktop using Remote
Desktop. Maybe not -- maybe it is a statistics bias, I am using the Remote
Desktop 95% of my time to access that PC.

What can I do now to solve this weird problem? Thanks a lot!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi all,

I mostly use my laptop to remotely access the desktop at home. Both are
running Windows XP SP2 and all the updates are up-to-date.

Evey a few hours or a few days, the keyboard got messed up. For example, all
of a sudden, when I press "m", the current window got minimized and the
desktop is shown; when I press other keys, many unexpected things occured,
some random applications got launched, windows got closed, even the
"accessibility tools" such as the narrator got launched.

I believe this is because I've pressed some magic keys which invoked the
weird behavor. I had to reboot my PC every time when it occured. It also
seems that this only occurs when I remotely access the desktop using Remote
Desktop. Maybe not -- maybe it is a statistics bias, I am using the Remote
Desktop 95% of my time to access that PC.

What can I do now to solve this weird problem? Thanks a lot!

Your keyboard may be in some strange control mode. Next time
it happens, tap each of the following keys, one at a time: Shift,
Ctrl, Alt (left), Shift, Ctrl, Alt (right). And by the way, please go
easy on your crossposts. Your problem has nothing to do with
"Performance" or "Deployment", so why post there?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In the future, please ask questions by starting a new message thread. Don't
reply to an existing message and piggyback onto another existing thread. It
seriously confuses both questions.

About 2 months ago (November, 2006), I noticed the PC performance was
slower (accessing files, loading files, calling internet, etc. I was
also getting some non responsive errors ("program not responding, end
program?") Sometimes I would get a message regarding a need for
Windows to increase virtual memory.
So, in response to this poorer performance, I checked my virus
protection (Norton) and scanned my files with Norton.

Good that you checked it, but bad that you used Norton, which is in my view
and the view of many of us here, the worst anti-virus product on the market.

Did you also check for spyware using at least two anti-spyware programs?
Spyware infestation is very often the cause of a sudden slowdown, and
anti-virus programs don't protect you against it.

I also deleted
a lot of not needed files,

Whenever I read statements like that, I worry about what what you deleted,
and whether doing so make has made your problems worse.

Exactly what were the "not needed files"? How did you know they were not
needed? If they were data files you created, fine. Deleting them won't hurt
you, but deleting them also can't possibly do anything to improve
performance. In fact deleting any files can't improve performance.

ran scan-disk, defragged the hard disks (I
have two)

Can't hurt to defrag, but fragmentation is highly unlikely to cause a sudden
dramatic decrease in performance.

and even purchased a registry "Mechanic" and cleaned up the
registry.

Of all the things you say, that's the one that scares me the most. I
always recommend *against* the routine use of
registry cleaners. Routine cleaning of the registry isn't needed and is
dangerous. Leave the registry alone and don't use a registry cleaner.
Despite what many people think, and what vendors of registry cleaning
software try to convince you of, having unused registry entries doesn't
really hurt you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit it may
have.

I can't be sure of course, but this is very likely to be the cause of the
problems you are now experiencing.

(I also backed up some important files)
Then a couple of days ago while trying to boot up the PC, I received a
message, "Missing Operating System". I tried re-booting several
times and gave up. Later that day, after saying a quick prayer, the
machine started up as normal.. I backed up more files, just in case,
but thought my machine was healed. Needless to say, the next day it
would not boot, giving me the same message.
So, yesterday I got into the system start menus (function F1) and
changed the boot sequence to first boot from the CD Rom drive. And
with the Windows XP disc in the CD drive I am able to boot up and
function again with the PC and write this long story.

I don't understand those last two sentences at all. If you changed the boot
sequence to CD first and put the CD in the drive, you're booting from the
CD, not the hard drive. Then what? You're not in Windows, you're in the
Windows installation program on the CD. Exactly what did you do? Did you
reinstall Windows?

Sorry !
Questions:
What happened?
How do I fix it?

Answer the questions asked above, first.

 

[cfman]

I tried press CTRL, ALT, SHIFT, etc. randomly a lot of times, it didnot
work...

By the fact that when I press "m", the current applicaiton window got
minimized and the desktop is shown, which control key do you think is this?
Thanks a lot!

 

[Elmo]

I tried press CTRL, ALT, SHIFT, etc. randomly a lot of times, it didnot
work...

By the fact that when I press "m", the current applicaiton window got
minimized and the desktop is shown, which control key do you think is this?
Thanks a lot!

Winkey/M minimizes all programs, just like Winkey/D, which toggles.

 

[Guest]

That sounds like a stuck Windows key. Might be a softwasre glitch, of course.

 

[cfman]

That sounds like a stuck Windows key. Might be a softwasre glitch, of
course.

Pressing "m" shows the desktop... what control key combination is this? I
need to the keys in order to reverse it...

Randomly pressing keys did not work at all.

 

[GateKeeper]

The control key combination is "Windows Logo Key + M." Most likely your
Windows Logo key is stuck. Take a look at this Knowledge Base article.

<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449>

 

[cfman]

The control key combination is "Windows Logo Key + M." Most likely your
Windows Logo key is stuck. Take a look at this Knowledge Base article.

<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449>

Thanks a lot! But my keyboard is a very old one and it does not have a WIN
LOGO key...

And as I said, I am remotely accessing that PC using a local laptop using
Remote Desktop,

Checking my local laptop keyboard, I do have a Windows LOGO key on this
laptop,

but locally on laptop it is obvious that this LOGO key is not stuck,

How can Remote Desktop generate some LOGO key sequence onto that remote PC
while locally I don't have any stuckness of the LOGO key here?

Thanks a lot!