Unwanted macro/script running during a game. Can't find the source

[doozzee]

I have noticed over the course of the past few months that if I pressed a certain combination of keys while playing the game Guild Wars, my email, [tab], and password are automatically typed. This happens only when I am in that game while pressing Ctrl+Alt+A. I tried replicating this in notepad but this only occurs while playing Guild Wars. The game itself doesn't have macros stored in its settings like World of Warcraft.

I had installed Auto Hotkey for simplifying work activities, but I never made a script for typing my email credentials. Normally, when scripts are running, I'll see the AHK icon in the notification area, but I never had any AHK scripts running during this time. I went ahead and uninstalled AHK anyways, but I'm still having issues.

I also have a Microsoft Sidewinder x4 keyboard which has a record button for macros, though I've never intentionally used this. I looked through the Microsoft Keyboard and Mouse center but did not find any macros saved there, so I also uninstalled that as well. I tried swapping out the keyboard, but I still was able to replicate the issue on a separate simplified keyboard as well
I need to find the source of this script or macro that is running so I can remove it. I don't want to unintentionally send a chat message with this sensitive info.

FYI I'm running on Windows 10. Any ideas on where this macro may be stored?

 

[Ralston18]

Open Task Manager and take a look around.

Especially in the Startup tab.

 

[gardenman]

That does sound bad (and scary because of accidentally hitting it during chat).

Do you have any password managers installed that might be auto-typing the login for you?

Download [HotKeysList] (freeware) by Nirsoft. Open it and it will show you the active hotkeys. You can press F5 to refresh the list at any time. Start closing down any and all background processes one at a time and keep refreshing HotKeysList until you see the key combo disappear.

AHK scripts can also be compiled into an EXE file. If you created one and uninstalled AHK, the script could still be running without having AHK installed. I think that's unlikely though as you would probably remember that.

Also consider scanning for malware with [Malwarebytes].

Edit: Sorry Ralston, I think we posted about the same time.

 

[Ralston18]

That does sound bad (and scary because of accidentally hitting it during chat).

Do you have any password managers installed that might be auto-typing the login for you?

Download [HotKeysList] (freeware) by Nirsoft. Open it and it will show you the active hotkeys. You can press F5 to refresh the list at any time. Start closing down any and all background processes one at a time and keep refreshing HotKeysList until you see the key combo disappear.

AHK scripts can also be compiled into an EXE file. If you created one and uninstalled AHK, the script could still be running without having AHK installed. I think that's unlikely though as you would probably remember that.

Also consider scanning for malware with [Malwarebytes].

Edit: Sorry Ralston, I think we posted about the same time.

 

[Ralston18]

No problem.

That happens - both ways....

 

[Peter Martin]

If you can’t find it there’s always format reinstall if that don’t work