Constant print screen bug/virus in Windows 10

Long story short: my computer won't stop taking screenshots, whatever I do.

If I try to copy a text (with Ctrl+C, for example), I'd paste it (Ctrl+V) and the content in the clipboard would already be a screenshot of the instant I pressed Ctrl+V. And that is not only with the keyboard shortcuts, that also happens if I right-click copy and paste.

If I keep pressing the ⊞ Win key, the screen will start to blink darker and save tons of screenshots in the ~/Screenshots/ folder, because of the Windows 10 mechanism of automatically saving screenshots in that folder when you press ⊞ Win+Prt Screen.

The key doesn't seem physically stuck, although I wouldn't doubt it if it was internally stuck. But I fear this is some kind of virus made to spy on what I'm doing, or some software that I installed that went crazy.

I tested closing multiple processes that weren't system related to see if any of them were causing the problem, but I didn't get any consistent results.

Someone knows what this is?


Solution 1:

One way to rule out if it's a software you installed is to restart in Safe Mode. That will run Windows without starting applications and services that start on startup.

  1. Click the Start button and click the Settings gear.
  2. Click Update & Security, then Recovery.
  3. Under Advanced Startup, select Restart Now.
  4. Your PC will restart and show the Choose an Option screen. Select TroubleshootAdvanced OptionsStartup SettingsRestart.
  5. After your PC restarts, select 4 or F4 to start your PC in Safe Mode.

You can also try unplugging your keyboard and using the onscreen keyboard to see if it still does it there.

  1. Click the Start button and click the Settings gear.
  2. Click Ease of Access.
  3. Click Keyboard.
  4. Set Use the On-Screen Keyboard to On.
  5. Unplug your physical keyboard and replicate the steps that caused the issue before.