# Troubleshooting a sluggish keyboard (Windows XP) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096 "2006-02-25T20:35:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/1 "2006-02-25T20:35:36Z")
I have a keyboard on my kids’ computer, that is basically useless. You press a key, hear a tone, and then, about two seconds later, it will echo the input key on your document. I swapped out the keyboard and the problem persisted, so it seems like it’s software rather than hardware. Does anybody know how to fix this? It’s Windows XP, with a Compaq keyboard. It’s not a USB keyboard; it plugs into the ‘keyboard’ plug in the back of the tower. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/2 "2006-02-25T21:01:06Z")
When did this start? Have you tried a USB keyboard? There might be something wrong with the keyboard plug (known as a PS/2 port). A cheap USB keyboard should not cost more than $10. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/3 "2006-02-25T21:08:50Z")
I don’t know any hardware problem that could cause this. I would suspect a virus, some sort of key logger, or some sort of malware/adware. You might try doing a system restore to a date prior to when this started happening. What anti-virus software are you running? Are you running any anti-adware programs like adaware and spybot? You can right click on the task bar (or press ctrl-alt-del) and bring up the task manager. Then go here and see what all is running in your computer. [http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist\_pages/tasklist.htm](http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm) Sounds to me like either something is intercepting the keyboard input (like a key logger) or something is hogging up so much cpu time that the computer takes a while to get around to processing whatever you are doing. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/4 "2006-02-25T21:10:17Z")
Sounds like a performance problem, probably caused by spyware, virus, or too many programs running on too little memory. Run [CCleaner](http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp) to empty internet caches and Windows temporary files. Then run [Windows Defender](http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4-f7f14e605a0d&displaylang=en) [Ewido anti-spyware](http://www.ewido.net/en/download/) to remove spyware (be sure to run the update checker first). Then run [TrendMicro Housecall antivirus scanner](http://housecall.trendmicro.com/)Then defragment your hard drive to speed disk performance. Come back if that doesn’t speed things up. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/5 "2006-02-25T21:11:34Z")
That should be [Windows Defender](http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4-f7f14e605a0d&displaylang=en) **and/or** [Ewido anti-spyware](http://www.ewido.net/en/download/) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/6 "2006-02-25T23:00:26Z")
Thanks for all the answers - I’m running AVG for virus protection on that box. The keyboard ‘uptake’ is the _only_ sluggish thing, though, which is why I haven’t suspected malware/viruses/etc. It started about two weeks ago. I’ll go check what processes are running via Task Manager now. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/7 "2006-02-26T03:13:24Z")
OPen the control panel and Accessibility Options. See if FILTER KEYS has been turned on. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshooting-a-sluggish-keyboard-windows-xp/346096/8 "2006-02-26T14:53:45Z")
I’ll do that next time - thanks. By the time I saw that, I had rolled back to an earlier state, which fixed the problem.