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Sandeep Mewara2-Jul-23 16:30

Sandeep Mewara

2-Jul-23 16:30

Wordle 744 3/6

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Amarnath S2-Jul-23 16:36

Amarnath S

2-Jul-23 16:36

Wordle 744 3/6

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All green 💚.

Shane01032-Jul-23 17:56

Shane0103

2-Jul-23 17:56

Wordle 744 5/6

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OriginalGriff2-Jul-23 18:39

OriginalGriff

2-Jul-23 18:39

Wordle 744 3/6*

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"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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GuyThiebaut2-Jul-23 19:53

GuyThiebaut

2-Jul-23 19:53

Wordle 744 3/6

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“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

― Christopher Hitchens

Sander Rossel2-Jul-23 20:51

Sander Rossel

2-Jul-23 20:51

Wordle 744 4/6

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Best,
Sander

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Re: Wordle 744 - 5 4 me

pkfox2-Jul-23 20:52

pkfox

2-Jul-23 20:52

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In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP

ChandraRam2-Jul-23 22:54

ChandraRam

2-Jul-23 22:54

Wordle 744 3/6*

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Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon

Start menu popping up all the time

Cp-Coder3-Jul-23 1:47

Cp-Coder

3-Jul-23 1:47

Wordle 744 6/6

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Ok, I have had my coffee, so you can all come out now!

Re: Wordle 744 (2/6)

Jeremy Falcon3-Jul-23 6:22

Jeremy Falcon

3-Jul-23 6:22

Wordle 744 2/6

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Boom shakalaka.

Jeremy Falcon

Re: Wordle 744 5/6

jmaida3-Jul-23 9:06

jmaida

3-Jul-23 9:06

Wordle 744 5/6

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little by little

"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger

trønderen2-Jul-23 8:57

2-Jul-23 8:57

This is not a problem of mine, but of a friend who call me every time there is some trouble with his computers. I will visit him next weekend and need some good hints for the problem investigation.

His newest PC, a small cigar box thing, is between 1 and 2 years old, and should be quite modern. (Sorry, I don't have the brand or model at hand.) He is running Windows 10.

For a couple of days, the Start Menu has been popping up, and then disappearing, at irregular intervals of a few seconds, as if he were randomly hitting Ctrl-Esc every few seconds. Intervals are not fixed, neither between popups nor how long the menu is displayed. When it pops up, it steals the focus, making it impossible to get any work done. If he opens the Start Menu explicitly (by clicking the Windows icon), and it takes him a few seconds to find the right entry, the menu closes.

It sounds very much like a faulty keyboard. But the thing is that if he disconnects his wireless keyboard completely, by unplugging the dongle, the problem remains. The mouse uses the same dongle, and is disconnected as well. I strongly suspect a hardware fault within the cigar box, but I think it strange that a hardware fault has this single
effect and no other visible signs.

He has tried to do a complete reinstall of Windows 10; the problem remains.

In between the Start Menu popups and closes, he has managed to start Notepad to do some simple typing. There is no sign of "ghost characters" that he didn't type himself. There doesn't appear to be noise on the keyboard input line, unless there is some filtering of keyboard input to Notepad that isn't applied to the opening of the Start Menu.

When I visit him next weekend, what should I do to try to identify and isolate the problem?
(I am not a hardware man, so I have no fancy electronic test equipment!)

Ron Anders2-Jul-23 9:17

Ron Anders

2-Jul-23 9:17

Malwarebytes free.

trønderen2-Jul-23 9:27

2-Jul-23 9:27

But "malware" - is that a likely problem when the problem remains after a complete reinstall of Win10, completely recreating the directory structure? Where did the malware hide during the reinstall operation?

Daniel Pfeffer2-Jul-23 10:01

Daniel Pfeffer

2-Jul-23 10:01

In the MBR? In the EFI partition? In BIOS flash memory?

Virus writers have become extremely clever at hiding their stuff in all kinds of unexpected places. Booting the computer from a known good CD-ROM or thumb drive and running an anti-virus is the first thing I'd do.

Malwarebytes, Kaspersky, and others provide free scanners that boot from an external device. They are the first things that I would try.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.

trønderen2-Jul-23 16:41

2-Jul-23 16:41

OK, I will check it when I visit my friend.

How is it: When you reinstall Windows with reformatting of the disk (as he says he did), isn't both MBR and EFI partition rewritten, so that any malware hiding there is wiped out?

BIOS flash is still a possibility.

Another question: I can understand the rationale behind ransomware, but why would a malware writer choose to generate this behavior as the only visible indication (and very much so!), no other sign of anything?
If this is meant as a pre-indication of a real ransom threat coming later, it is silly to make the PC impossible to use even before the 'real' threat has been presented - the victim wouldn't see it when he can't use his PC!

k50542-Jul-23 17:29

k5054

2-Jul-23 17:29

trønderen wrote:
but why would a malware writer choose to generate this behavior as the only visible indication (and very much so!), no other sign of anything?

Maybe just because they can? Maybe that's the whole point of the virus, to annoyingly launch the start menu, with no other ulterior motive. Just a digital "Kilroy was here" kind of thing?

Keep Calm and Carry On

trønderen2-Jul-23 17:36

2-Jul-23 17:36

Certainly a possibility. If it is so, I guess that we will se more reports of the same.
(No malware writer develops such a virus for my friend's computer only!)

raddevus2-Jul-23 12:19

raddevus

2-Jul-23 12:19

Is it possible it is just his keyboard glitching on WindowsKey or something?
Is it a wireless keyboard (bluetooth)? Or is it wired?
Have friend try another keyboard.

Or, is it possible that there is suddenly a bluetooth keyboard in the vicinity that is somehow connecting to his computer?
Just some thoughts.

Graeme_Grant2-Jul-23 15:57

Graeme_Grant

2-Jul-23 15:57

raddevus wrote:
Is it possible it is just his keyboard glitching on Windows Key or something?

This was my first thought ... maybe food or spilt drink on that key. Swap with a keyboard, where the problem does not exist, and see if it stops.

I once had a funky keyboard that was affected by the humidity ... It had a manufacturing defect, a hairline connection issue. When the weather was hot, the key stopped working intermittently, but was fine any other time.

Graeme

"I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks one time, but I fear the man that has practiced one kick ten thousand times!" - Bruce Lee

trønderen2-Jul-23 16:28

2-Jul-23 16:28

My first thought as well. But the problem persists even when the keyboard is completely disconnected, by unplugging the keyboard/mouse wireless dongle. That rules out the keyboard as the culprit.

Graeme_Grant2-Jul-23 16:32

Graeme_Grant

2-Jul-23 16:32

Failing malware, try [manually] reinstalling the keyboard driver - delete the old one then install a new one. I had a Logitech keyboard driver go funny ... my game did unusual things when it shouldn't. Reinstalling the driver fixed it.

Last thought, it could be a connector/chip/circuit issue on the motherboard.

Graeme

"I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks one time, but I fear the man that has practiced one kick ten thousand times!" - Bruce Lee

trønderen2-Jul-23 17:33

2-Jul-23 17:33

I have been thinking the same.

BUT: When you reformat the disk and reinstall Windows from scratch, I'd think that you get a new and fresh keyboard driver with the OS reinstallation.

I also suspect a connector/chip/circuit issue. That is why I had my friend open Notepad and start typing - I'd think that this kind of noise would appear in Notepad just as much as in the desktop input. But none such was observed.

I did tell my friend to grab the PC by its neck and shake it while telling it in a stern voice to start behaving. Of course this was said as a joke, but if there is a bad connection somewhere, a little shaking could both break the connection permanently, or cause it to settle down with better contact. I might try to give it a (not too violent) shake when I get there, to see if it has any effect on the issue. (It is a tiny cigar box thing, so it is perfectly possible to shake it, and it has a solid state M.2 disk - the only movable part is a fan.)