Cat on the computer

[Droogs]

Last night my cat cat walked across the laptop and now the "start" button on the keyboard and on the desktop don't work. When you press the start key or left click the windows icon on the bottom left of the screen bugger all happens. If you right click you get a pop up menu with a few options. But can't access any of the programs etc. Anyone any idea what my flaming moggy has done and how to fix it?

edit

It's Windows 10 by the way

 

[Paul200]

Hmm? Mother in Law has managed that with her laptop. Interested to see if there's a solution because I'm damned if I can find one - and the brownie points would be invaluable

 

[Aggrajag]

First thing to do with a random stuck key, which might be in the software and not even physically on the keyboard (I see it all the time, I work in IT support) is to give each key along the bottom row a give hard tap - CTRL/WIN/ALT/SPACE/ALT/WIN/MENU/CTRL.

I presume you've switched it off and back on? (a cliche but truthfully it solves most problems.)

 

[Wuffles]

Lots of fixes on the web but all seem to point at this kind of thing:

http://mspoweruser.com/solution-start-m ... indows-10/

 

[LancsRick]

Broad flat screwdriver or metal nailfile or similar - place under the lower edge of the key and lever it up. The key will now pop up off the board. Underneath you will find a rubber switch cover, and a metal bar clipped into the key.

Prod the rubber switch and see if it works. If so, then the key was just stuck and you're in business. If not, then the switch itself is knackered.

 

[Aggrajag]

Broad flat screwdriver or metal nailfile or similar - place under the lower edge of the key and lever it up. The key will now pop up off the board. Underneath you will find a rubber switch cover, and a metal bar clipped into the key.

Prod the rubber switch and see if it works. If so, then the key was just stuck and you're in business. If not, then the switch itself is knackered.

If it's a cheap keyboard the above will work fine but be careful doing this if it's a more expensive keyboard; they have plastic clips/loops on each key that wrap around the base and will break off and be unusable.

 

[Aggrajag]

I've just realised you said the menu doesn't work with a mouse-click - this isn't a keyboard issue, sorry my bad. Wuffles post is likely the most useful for you.

 

[Droogs]

It appears this is a very common OS fault with some AV suites amonst other stuff. Only resolution is a complete reinstall of W10, now done. is a bugger though forgot to export bookmarks. ah well...

 

[Wuffles]

It appears this is a very common OS fault with some AV suites amonst other stuff. Only resolution is a complete reinstall of W10, now done. is a pipper though forgot to export bookmarks. ah well...

Did you look at he link I posted? Seemed straightforward enough to fix without a reinstall.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

It appears this is a very common OS fault with some AV suites amonst other stuff. Only resolution is a complete reinstall of W10, now done.

You can't be serious, surely. A cat walking across your keyboard mans you have to re-install the OS ? I knew Microsoft wrote some garbage, but that is remarkable :lol:

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I'm not sure whether it's down to cats specifically, but strange things do seem to happen if they walk across keyboards. My cat mooched about a bit on the last laptop's keyboard, and the whole screen turned sideways - as I later discovered, went into tablet mode. It took me a day and a half to unscramble (very simply in the end with the help of a copy of Vista for Dummies), and I never did discover what combination of keys the cat had sat on. Cat was not remotely sorry, either.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I had a parrot...

... who was really tame. When I started to do paid keyboard work, it was from home mainly, and Charlie (for it was she) would keep me company, on my shoulder, whilst I worked.

Most of the time she would dose off and be fine, but occasionally she'd be in a bored and playful mood.

They are VERY bright animals (well, birds), and she had worked out that my attention was on screen and keyboard. So she'd run down my arm, across the keyboard, and back up to the other shoulder, ensuring mayhem and that she got my full attention!

She was one of these*, incidentally:

She'd also preen whilst up on my shoulder, and as well as making a dusty mess, if she pulled a worn out primary or secondary wing feather, she'd hold it in her beak and use it to tickle my ear.

A much missed family member.

E.

*Amazonis Autumnalis, the Red Lored Amazon

 

[AndyT]

I'm not sure whether it's down to cats specifically, but strange things do seem to happen if they walk across keyboards. My cat mooched about a bit on the last laptop's keyboard, and the whole screen turned sideways - as I later discovered, went into tablet mode. It took me a day and a half to unscramble (very simply in the end with the help of a copy of Vista for Dummies), and I never did discover what combination of keys the cat had sat on. Cat was not remotely sorry, either.

To change the display orientation, just use ctrl, alt and any of the arrow keys.

This was a popular prank in some offices I have worked in, used on anyone not paying attention or not locking up when leaving their PC unattended.

(It's there to cope with things like inverted ceiling mounted data projectors.)

 

[Woodchips2]

Hi Droogs, I think you ought to stop *****-footing around this problem and encourage the moggy to go for the mouse not the keyboard next time (hammer)

Regards Keith (with apologies)

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I'm not sure whether it's down to cats specifically, but strange things do seem to happen if they walk across keyboards. My cat mooched about a bit on the last laptop's keyboard, and the whole screen turned sideways - as I later discovered, went into tablet mode. It took me a day and a half to unscramble (very simply in the end with the help of a copy of Vista for Dummies), and I never did discover what combination of keys the cat had sat on. Cat was not remotely sorry, either.

To change the display orientation, just use ctrl, alt and any of the arrow keys.

This was a popular prank in some offices I have worked in, used on anyone not paying attention or not locking up when leaving their PC unattended.

(It's there to cope with things like inverted ceiling mounted data projectors.)

Thanks, Andy.

(PS - Don't tell the cat.)

 

[Droogs]

I think the cat and the kbd was just coincidence. I tried the fix first mooted by Wuffles but just got deployment error notifications as the script ran. Also tried about 5 other possible workarounds but none worked and was forced to do a reset, This puts everything back to a clean install but keeps all your files but not any applications that have been installed (didn't notice that until it was done) so now having to re install all my additional programs. SWMBO is happy her laptop now works but really miffed that she's lost all the bookmarks (she is crap at remembering what she looks at). Told her to think of it as a whole new adventure as she thinks of what she wants online.

 

[AndyT]

Some browsers sync your bookmarks to your account, so all might not be lost. AFAIK Chrome does this by default. Firefox lets you opt in to doing it.

 

[whiskywill]

To change the display orientation, just use ctrl, alt and any of the arrow keys.

I have just tried that and it does nothing but scroll up and down. :?