Random taskbar apps opening and numbers entered

Hello Alyssa, welcome to the Microsoft community, my name is Luiz Cruz, an independent consultant and I would be happy to help you.

For better assertiveness in your question, let me know what edition and compilation of your system?
Does your computer start opening new internet tabs too?
What apps appear on your taskbar?

Thank you for the quick reply. I hope this screenshot helps

No new internet tabs were open. I have file explorer, mail, microsoft word 2016, mozilla firefox, and sticky notes (from left to right) in my taskbar. If I have each app open sometimes it would not attempt to open another window of them. Random screenshots were also taken. 

Update:

Okay so I managed to login to my laptop despite the random inputs. Taskbar apps started to pop up after I enter. First thing I did was to uninstall my internal keyboard and everything seems fine for the first few minutes. My laptop acted up again after that. Unpinning apps from my taskbar stopped any apps from opening (thank god it was starting to get annoying). 

Was hoping its the problem of my keyboard but now it seems like the problem runs deeper than I hoped. 

Dear Alyssa, follow the steps below for possible solution to your problem and see the behavior below:

Step 1

Clean boot:

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run Menu;

2. In the Run menu, type Msconfig and click OK;

3. On the General tab, click Normal Startup;

4. Click the Services tab and select Enable all;

5. Enable the Hide all Microsoft services option and click Disable all;

6. Click Apply> Ok.

Disabling third party services in the Task Manager.

1. Press the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC keys and click More details;

2. Click the Startup tab and disable all programs manually; Just click on each program then click on Disable;

3. Apply the changes, close the Task Manager and restart the computer;

4. Take a test.

Step 2

These are diagnostic tools and assist in repairing the system image.




1. Click Start and type CMD;

2. In the list of search results, right-click Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator;

3. At the Command Prompt (Admin), type the command Dism / Online / Cleanup-image / RestoreHealth and press Enter;

4. Wait for the verification to finish and when finished, execute the next command;

5. At the command prompt, type the following command sfc / scannow and press Enter;

6. After the verification is finished, proceed to step 3.

Step 3

Removal of possible viruses.

Download the Malware Bytes Free software from this link "https://www.malwarebytes.com/lp/lp4/02_r/?gclid...; and perform the complete “Scan” following the steps below:

Run the program to start the installation.

Go ahead, accept the license, read all the dialog boxes, decide where you want to install the program, accept to create the shortcut, click "INSTALL".

Make updates (Click Updates and Check for updates).

Click "Ok" at the end of the update.

Click on "Run a full scan" and on "Check", select all hard drives.

When the "Scan" is finished, click "View the results".

Make sure everything is checked and click "Delete the selection". (If a message asks you to restart your PC, to end the removal, accept).

I await news!

If the answer helped in any way, please click on “I solved my problem” located below this message, if your question has not been solved, please respond here with the results obtained so that we can continue.

I hope I helped, even more!

Dear Alyssa, I suggest that you do a test with another keyboard and check if the problem persists.

Let us know if the problem is resolved.
I hope I helped, even more!

Hello! Following your advice, Step 1 really helped in stopping the problem and Step 2 found a corrupted file and repaired it. 

Unfortunately while scanning with Malwarebytes the problem acted up again. The scan is not complete as of yet.

I have tried uninstalling the standard keyboard in Device Manager. It did lessen the frequency of the problem but it did not stop it completely. Using any keys after uninstalling the keyboard still triggers the problem. But nevertheless if installing an external keyboard may help I’ll get one tomorrow. 

After testing an external keyboard, please let us know.
Glad to help, see you!

[Begin quoted]

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 5567 laptop with Windows 10. So a few days ago while I was using my laptop random apps from my taskbar started popping out uncontrollably. I also noticed that random numbers are entered in any space possible (43210987). The numbers 4 and 7 are being spammed more than the others. I have attacted some pictures of the condition (letters entered are from me)

Rebooting in safe mode stopped everything that was happening. I assumed this is because of a hidden virus (not detected by any antivirus software e.g. Windows Defender and McAfree) so I performed a clean boot after I collected important files in safe mode. My laptop was back to normal and the weird thing acted up again after 4 days. I am thinking of disabling my built-in keyboard but now I am even having the hard time to enter my PIN for safe mode. Does anyone know why this is happening and how can I fix it?

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[End quoted]

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Yes, even I face the same issue! The worst part is, when I'm working on something, the window focus changes suddenly and numbers like 09874 pops up in the window and then spams 1 and 7 keys! then, every 2 seconds or so, the taskbar apps open up on their own and the keys spam on their own! For example, when I open google chrome, it suddenly types 09874111111111111111111111111111.... until I stop it! The search bar pops up and the 1 key spams like 1111111111111.. as if it was stuck. Now, the number keys have stopped working, yet 1 and 7 are still spamming continuously and I have no idea why! I've tried everything, like uninstalling the driver, running a hardware scan and even tried booting to safe mode. NO AVAIL!!! I even scanned for viruses but it said no viruses found! is it a windows update bug, or could it be a potential hardware issue?

Sadly, none of these worked. :( The issue persisted even after using another external USB Keyboard too!!! THIS IS VERY ANNOYING, and my laptop is rendered useless. The start menu keeps popping up, the keys 1 and 7 spam on their own (even after my number keys stopped working!) and apps on the taskbar suddenly open up! When I tried to type something, it started to spam (like: why is my keyboa0987411111111111111111111111111)!

Dear Alyssa, follow the steps below for possible solution to your problem and see the behavior below:

Step 1

Clean boot:

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run Menu;

2. In the Run menu, type Msconfig and click OK;

3. On the General tab, click Normal Startup;

4. Click the Services tab and select Enable all;

5. Enable the Hide all Microsoft services option and click Disable all;

6. Click Apply> Ok.

Disabling third party services in the Task Manager.

1. Press the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC keys and click More details;

2. Click the Startup tab and disable all programs manually; Just click on each program then click on Disable;

3. Apply the changes, close the Task Manager and restart the computer;

4. Take a test.

Step 2

These are diagnostic tools and assist in repairing the system image.




1. Click Start and type CMD;

2. In the list of search results, right-click Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator;

3. At the Command Prompt (Admin), type the command Dism / Online / Cleanup-image / RestoreHealth and press Enter;

4. Wait for the verification to finish and when finished, execute the next command;

5. At the command prompt, type the following command sfc / scannow and press Enter;

6. After the verification is finished, proceed to step 3.

Step 3

Removal of possible viruses.

Download the Malware Bytes Free software from this link "https://www.malwarebytes.com/lp/lp4/02_r/?gclid...; and perform the complete “Scan” following the steps below:

Run the program to start the installation.

Go ahead, accept the license, read all the dialog boxes, decide where you want to install the program, accept to create the shortcut, click "INSTALL".

Make updates (Click Updates and Check for updates).

Click "Ok" at the end of the update.

Click on "Run a full scan" and on "Check", select all hard drives.

When the "Scan" is finished, click "View the results".

Make sure everything is checked and click "Delete the selection". (If a message asks you to restart your PC, to end the removal, accept).

I await news!

If the answer helped in any way, please click on “I solved my problem” located below this message, if your question has not been solved, please respond here with the results obtained so that we can continue.

I hope I helped, even more!

Thanks for suggesting these steps! Clean boot stopped apps from popping up, but the keys still spammed. Scanning for malware in malwarebytes worsened the issue and DISM restore health command did not find any corrupted file at all! Is something wrong with my hardware or, is it a glitch? do I have to roll back any feature updates? This issue is FRUSTRATING and I have no clue as to what is causing this issue!!!