[teh_moleman]

My uncle just called me telling me he apparently got a virus on his laptop and now the keyboard and mouse (or touchpad I guess) don't work at all. Basically all he can do is turn the laptop on and off. So now I gotta try to fix it.

With no keyboard or mouse, what are some things I can try? I figured safe mode was one possibility. Maybe there's some antivirus program that can run when the computer boots up to check if there actually is a virus or if something else is messed up. Can't think of anything else at the moment.

He's using Windows XP btw.

Thanks for any help.

[BlueMak]

can he use the keyboard before loading XP? To access the BIOS for example?

He can also plug in an external keyboard. (I think)

[Judas]

an external keyboard or mouse may be a way to get something at least..

i know AVG free anti-virus runs a full thorough scan every morning and emediately after you install (if you want to scan)

Also check out "super Anti-Spyware"

Zardon found this little treat of a neat program that does a pretty damn impressive job of killing anything malware/spyware/virus like quite affectively...

I know use it in conjuction with AVG... so far i've found it to be a killer combination.

[teh_moleman]

I'll be at his house tomorrow to see what I can do. I'll try the external keyboard/mouse first and hope it works out.

A couple of years ago I had installed AVG on that laptop, but last I saw it, it was uninstalled and replaced by Norton Internet Security, which had not been updated since the initial 90 day trial period or however long it is. In any case, I think it had been over a year since the last antivirus update, let alone a virus scan.