[LowFatMayo]

Hi.

I recently downloaded a file and scanned it with AVG, and it registered no infection.

I turned my computer off without using the file. While it was off, my wife tripped over the keyboard wire, and I didn't notice that it was loose when I turned my computer back on.

I didn't have to type anything (other than my password for windows), and I went straight to the file I downloaded and opened it. A while later, I noticed that any time I tried to type, be it in notepad or firefox or anything, several bad things happened: the wrong, and often multiple characters would appear (i.e. if I type SPACE, instead of " " I get " -", and other keys would type smiley emoticons or other weird things) and also shortcuts would open (for instance many buttons now open the windows calculator).

I scanned for malware multiple times... AVG found nothing, but Spybot and SUPERantispyware both caught a few things... however removing the malware has not fixed my problem. I of course noticed the loose keyboard wire, plugged it back in, and that hasn't fixed the problem.

The windows key is not stuck. I have tried the various commands for turning off sticky-keys, and that doesn't seem to be the problem. According to Regional Language settings, it's correctly set to a US English keyboard. I've tried to check the language bar, but it does not appear in my taskbar options, and trying to make it appear in the taskbar/desktop via the Regional Language control panel options does not seem to make it appear.

So right now I figure it could be malware, or it could be that something went wrong from it loading windows with a keyboard half-plugged in... but I'm afraid to reboot my computer to test the keyboard, because I'm worried that if it's pervasive malware, it could prevent me from typing my password and logging back into windows.

Does anyone have a clue what my problem might be? Is it safe to reboot my computer?

Thanks for your help!