Laptop keyboard temporarily stopped working
 

So, yesterday I took a couple of updates - malicious software removal and something else - left my laptop to it and went to watch the footie.

When I came back I input the wrong password but it was actually because no characters came out when I typed and hadn't noticed. The power button - part of the keyboard - was working but nothing else was.

Naturally I turned off and back on again - 3 or 4 times - but there was no change.

Connected a USB keyboard, got in and opened device manager. Supposedly working. Tried update driver but already current. Tried to uninstall keyboard, restarted to complete removal. Did that 3 or 4 times, no change.

Thought about uninstalling updates followed by restoring to before the updates if that didn't work, but a possible solution I'd read was a scan.

So I ran Malwarebytes. It usually runs for 15-20 minutes but I added a root kit scan - which I've done before on its own and took maybe an hour. This one ran for over 8 hours. That was odd and unexpected. I went to bed after a couple of hours, by which time three adware.elex things (whatever they are) were detected and they showed up very early in the scan.

In the morning it was the same. Just those three things after 8+ hours. So I quarantined them as usual.

The keyboard was working fine. It seems unlikely this would have been the cause but unfortunately I didn't try it before the quarantine. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had worked and not working was just one of those unexplained things.

Anyone have any idea on this?

Re: Laptop keyboard temporarily stopped working
 

According to the Malwarebytes info site, adware.elex often displays ads by injecting them into visited sites and pops up browser windows. The malware is reported to be of Chinese origin, so maybe you had a Coronavirus slip through.........:p
But seriously, it appears that the quarantine by your Malwarebyte software could well have cleaned your system now that the keyboard appears to be back at work.

Apart from occasionally dabbling with Linux on an oldish IMB Thinkpad, my daily computers since 2002 have always been Macs, never used any anti-virus or anti-malware software, and to date never had any significant related problems. Having said that, today I generally wouldn't buy any new Mac laptop after 2012 due to their extreme difficulty (read 'huge expense') to perform repairs - the iMac desktops being the one exception - which are fairly easily user-repairable.

Re: Laptop keyboard temporarily stopped working
 

Adblockplus and ublock origin seem to take care of all ads. :thumbup:
Logic suggests that to be true. In my mind logic also suggests the problem came from the update :rofl: We'll never know. I can live with it. ;)

Much less so now thanks mostly to Netflix and DAZN, I was always a heavy user of unofficial streaming sites (TV, movies and football) and it's always amazed me that there haven't been more weird behaviours and infections. Perhaps I'm better at the protections and safeguards that I expected. :unsure:

I've had very little over the years that turning off and back on again hasn't fixed. :fingerscrossed: