In a fit of domesticity, I cleaned my keyboard today: removed most of the keys, shook the toast crumbs out, wiped the coffee stains off, that sort of thing.
Came to switch the computer back on and a mystery virus had struck. When I went to use Internet Explorer it opened window after window after window. Then when I started to close them down, more opened. And it I opened “Favourite Places” in the top window, the list flickered rapidly. How I cursed this mystery virus.
Tried everything. Switched it off, switched it on, pulled the plug, punched the screen… ran a full virus scan… finally I got to a situation where I could type into the address window of the top box. Followed links by clicking,and eventually decided to write a post… and it scrolled and scrolled and scrolled… until I noticed that when I had replaced the “new line” key after cleaning the keyboard, it had jammed in the down position!
I did that with my iMac keyboard a coupla years back, and after reassembly had five pieces left over. The keyboard still functions normally, so I have those five mystery pieces stored away in case a malfunction arises in the future, at which time I’ll try figuring out where those pieces are supposed to go.
You can get similar symptoms if you ever try washing a keyboard. Residual moisture in the contacts and circuit traces will cause some strange behavior.
