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9257
June 25th, 2010 08:00
keyboard causes programs to stop responding
I have an alienware M15x, running Windows 7. Recently, the laptop keyboard has causes windows programs to stop responding. What I mean by this is that I can open Firefox, and it'll work fine if all I do is click links, but the minute I try and type in a url or try to enter text on a webpage, Mozilla will stop responding. This also occurs in other programs, too, like instant messenger. However, I can open notepad, and type just fine, so I don't think this is a hardware problem. This problem isn't continuous - it seems to happen occasionally, but often enough to be annoying. I can fix it by logging out and windows and back in to my user name.
Has anyone seen anything similar or know of a resolution? Dxdiag didn't find any problems.
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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June 26th, 2010 18:00
Scanned for malware lately?
Is there a "repair" tool in Firefox?
Ron
flettz
7 Posts
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June 26th, 2010 19:00
I doubt it's a malware problem. It's a relatively new laptop, and I'm generally very careful about that stuff. I also ran a scan via spybot that came up clean. I also don't think it's a firefox problem - that just happened to be one of applications where this problem presented itself. This occurs in multiple programs, but it seems like only the ones that actually run over top of Windows 7. Using the keyboard to navigate around Windows or to use simple Windows applications, like Notepad, works just fine.
Joe
Jeff Hoffman
2 Intern
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881 Posts
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June 26th, 2010 19:00
What AV do you use? Let me take a wild guess: Did your new system come with McAfee pre-installed???? I had no end of strange things happen to my system untill I got rid of EVERY TRACE of McAfee. In any case, AV software can cause odd things to happen. When you are not online try disabling the AV and see what happens........
Jeff
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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June 26th, 2010 21:00
Spybot does not find everything... :emotion-5:
If this just happened, try doing a System Restore to latest date available before the problem first started. Personal files will be ok, but you will have to install any microsoft updates that were originally installed after the date used for the restore.
BTW: Are you using the ZoneAlarm (free) firewall? Several recent releases caused major browser problems and they've had a flurry of updates. I beta-tested 9.2.053.000 for them and this one finally seems to be ok.
Ron
flettz
7 Posts
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June 27th, 2010 05:00
Oh, I'm aware, don't worry. I'll keep looking for malware, but I guess I think it's unlikely that I'll find that to be the problem.
I think I've seen a pattern with this, but I don't have a large enough sample size to be sure. It seems to only happen when I shut the laptop lid and have the computer go into sleep mode. I've disabled sleep mode for now, so I'll see if that problem happens at all over the next couple days.
And no, I'm not using ZoneAlarm. I have McAfee on the machine right now.
Joe