# Tablet "ghost-typing/touching"



## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Hi all, My Samsung tab A is basically "going nuts"- I go to open an app and start to work on something and notification bar keeps dropping down and back up, new tabs open all over the place etc. Suggestions I've tried to no avail: cleaning screen thoroughly, running a thin blade around edge of screen (not sure what that's supposed to do) tried to restart a couple times, made sure there's no gesture/swipe option on. Have no idea what started this, but would really like to resolve it before my tab bids on a $50,000 ebay item or something 🤯. Any thoughts would be most appreciated! Thanks!


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

Sounds like malware when tabs start opening on their own.

I own two Tab A tablets. What do you use for security?
I run Malwarebytes free and regularly scan my tablets.
https://www.malwarebytes.com/android


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Thanks Liz! I hadn't ANY protection on my tablet. Yikes. I did just install the one you mentioned along with "safe security". Just the free versions. Problem is still there though...  Do I need to do a paid thing? I'm horribly ignorant on this, sorry! Last time I dealt with virus protection was installing Norton into laptop like 7 yrs ago 😳)


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

Did malwarebytes find anything when it scanned?

Have you turned off the tablet then cold booted it?


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Well if I didn't already adore you for your avatar, I do now because you solved my problem! 😁☕ Malwarebytes did clean up some stuff but I'm so grateful for your follow-up post as I never knew it could make a dif if one reboots from off vs. just "restart". That was the last step I missed. I have put this in my notes for solving tech problems in the future. I can't thank you enough- you literally saved me a lot of time and hassle. Thank you SO very much and I hope you're enjoying your weekend!!


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Oh no......!! It's doing it again.....  Was doing fine for about 30 min and now I went to use it again and it's back. What could this be??? Am I looking into having to go into ubreakifix?


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

It could be a rogue app. Have you downloaded any apps from any place other than googleplay?

If so, if it were my tablet acting crazy, I'd start removing apps, starting with the last installed one. Scan with malwarebytes, turn off then turn on again.


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Thanks- done. Still problem


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

I truly think it is a software problem and not hardware.

What apps did you install?


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Unfortunately I didn't notice which things I uninstalled but I could only find a couple things I didn't recognize so I uninstalled those. However, in my play store, app manager it says "no harmful apps found". Is that worth anything?


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

It seems to keep getting better lol- what might that signify? I've cold-booted it twice since this a.m. Using it for 3 hrs now and no problems so far....


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

Even the playstore can have harmful apps from time to time. So perhaps one of the ones you had was in the group and took awhile to be noticed.

If it starts happening again, look over your apps and try removing one or two of them.

Also don't be afraid to scan with malwarebytes from time to time just to be sure nothing bad has sneaked in.


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Thanks! Yeah, problem's back. I'll try this now. What a pain..... TY!


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

Also, check what permissions an app has by doing this:
1. Tap on Settings
2. Select apps and notifications
3. Select an app and tap on it
4. Select permissions.

You can remove some of an apps permission if you think it might be interfering.

The extra tabs might happen if this app decides to update and undo what was done to keep it in check.

You can also turn off auto update then manually update what you want. For example, I have some sort of ANT app on my tablet. This doesn't apply to a tablet but is for a phone so I've NEVER updated it because I don't use it.


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Thank you so much for your continued suggestions! I just ran the malwarebytes again and it said "no malware found". So there's no need to uninstall any of my apps then, correct??


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Ok thanks for all this too! Before I do anything next, the latest on what's going on with the tab is that it's now not responding to touch sometimes- as in I have to tap the thing really hard to get it to respond! Wth is this??? This just happened starting earlier today. Does my tablet have a curse on it lol? I assume that this new symptom is somehow related since it's happening at this same, but what's the saying? Correlation does not necessarily equal causation (?) Do you know of anything that would be causing both of these issues? Does this sound like a screen thing maybe? I have dropped the tablet recently but it was on carpet so I didn't think anything of it but could that have caused some problem possibly?? Thanks!


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

Ah, it was dropped so you may have a touchscreen problem. Even though on carpet, something might have jarred lose.

If the screen non-response gets worse then I suspect this is a hardware issue. For that, the tablet would need to be looked at by someone who repairs hardware.


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## Shannon5867 (Mar 16, 2021)

Ok! I didn't suspect it since it was a light drop, but since you're saying it could have still jarred something loose, I'll see how it goes, then take it in to "doctor's" lol. I've learned a lot of things from your responses that I have noted and I so appreciate the time you took to help a stranger! I will pay it forward! 😊


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

I'm always happy to help.


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