virus on surface rt

[slmsd1968]

So my wife was surfing the web and windows defender popped up and said to clean computer. The issue was that I could not click the button to clean it so I restarted the device and now keyboard only works in desktop mode. Has anybody had this issue yet

 

[alaskanjackson]

I had the same message appear yesterday while my son was using his. I have not noticed any issues since I restarted his?

 

[pedenske]

you should be able to bring up the keyboard manually by swiping to settings tapping the keyboard layout (ENG US) and selecting the bottom option (Touch keyboard and handwriting panel)

 

[slmsd1968]

The keyboard would make the click noise but no letters were being typed. I did resolve the issue by refreshing the tablet from the settings.

 

[johninsj]

So my wife was surfing the web and windows defender popped up and said to clean computer. The issue was that I could not click the button to clean it so I restarted the device and now keyboard only works in desktop mode. Has anybody had this issue yet

Likely that was just a bogus web-based pop-up. Since the RT is arm based, and only runs signed code, it's nearly impossible to actually get it infected from the wild.

 

[prlundberg]

My wife had the same thing happen this weekend. It was a web page designed to look like a pop up window. Because it was a window and it was in the Metro/Modern interface I knew immediately it was bogus. Unfortunately she did not and she tried clicking on it. Didn't appear to do anything and I can't see anything wrong. I don't know how we got directed to the page in the first place though, so it still kinda bothers me.

 

[ljkelley]

You can get a virus on Windows RT, but it would have to specifically be made for Windows RT and its much more secure environment. If there was an exploit and a virus maker saw the market... perhaps. To date there is no confirmed reports.

You could also get a file downloaded or transferred from another computer that contains a virus for another OS (Windows, Mac). Defender would want to clean if possible or then delete/quarantine so you didn't spread the virus to someone who could get infected.

But also extremely likely is as described above, a fake alert from a website. A real alert I imagine would throw you back to the desktop (though I have not tested this, I just don't think defender as a Metro counterpart yet). Just keep in mind on any computer you are, virus alerts from Defender or Norton or any AV software comes from that software in a separate desktop window and app as shown in the taskbar. It is never contained in a browser.

 

[VidJuhEffex]

Defender does not have a Metro counterpart but I have had both a fake Win-style pop-up in browser (which gave me a chuckle) as well as having a Toast notification (or charm or whatever the two divisions who have apparently never spoken choose to call it) which said my PC has detected malware. On clicking it I was sent to the desktop and Defender opened. It said it had cleaned it, etc etc. My guess is, it shares definitions with Windows Pro. Thus the file it found IS a virus (or malware, etc etc) but it can't do anything.

Main point is, alerts can be real, from actual windows Defender. Though I doubt what its alerting against will ever be a real threat.

 

[prlundberg]

Can Defender be configured? After that happened I wanted to run a scan but I couldn't find Defender.

 

[VidJuhEffex]

yes, type security from your start screen, then press settings to search within settings. From there you should see the familiar castle-wall icon of Defender labelled "Scan for malware and other.. blah blah blah"

 

[VidJuhEffex]

also, search defender, its under settings as well

 

[prlundberg]

Doh! Uh, yeah, I just got confused. The page imitated Security Essentials, not Defender, and of course I couldn't find Security Essentials and forgot the difference.