I can't believe this

useful info
1

Okay so I suddenly discovered that my printer is not communicating with the computer. So I go through the trouble shooting process with HPs app. A few dozen restarts later, I discover my card reader has stopped being recognized. So I hunt around, disable the driver, and detect new hardware. Voila, card reader found. I eject the SD card, go to put in a new one, and the reader isn’t recognized anymore. Go back in, figure the driver has gotten corrupted, so disable and delete (figuring the driver would reinstall).

Now Firefox isn’t working, and my keyboard has been disabled! No, I am not kidding. This all on my new, custom laptop. I can’t even have Toshiba remote in to trouble shoot, because I would have to type in permission codes. And no, I can’t use the on-screen keyboard either, it seems any keyboard input has been disabled.

I think this might have started from a file I tried to download earlier. I was prompted to download an installer, and I clicked okay, I got used to that with CNet.

I am waiting for AVG to finish scanning. Unfortunately, it looks like my registry cleaner has been disabled.

Anyone know where Microsoft hid System Restore in Windows 8.1?

2

Correction: the keyboard won’t work in browsers .

I think this may be due to some malware trying to hijack the browser and being blocked by AVG and other security apps.

3

Fixed it. Took me long enough.

4

Was it a browser malware ickiness? C’mon, we’re all dying to know. =)

5

Yes, but I wound up having to run a rootkit scan, twice. Odd thing is, the system restore aborted itself, but everything worked afterwards (I still ran AVG twice after - it’s only paranoia if you aren’t right). I had to disable the memory card driver and do another hardware scan, but that hasn’t gone on the fritz since.

I sprung for the “Pro” version of AVG, since I had a light budget surplus this month.