Apparently when he starts having difficulty, he keeps seeing the menus in the menubars of his windows popping open. I haven't been able to determine if this is the only issue, or if this is just part of it. I told him it could be a stuck Alt key, and if the problem happens to give it a good heavy tap, but he called back later exasperated that that wasn't working either.
I, too, have had keyboards go bad in that sort of fashion, and have had to replace the keyboard. I tried completely dismantling the keyboard and cleaning all the contacts and everything, and it still malfunctioned.
Because of the way that the keyboard interfaces with PCs (old-skool PS/2 keyboard plug hooks into the A20 handler), a bad keyboard or a frayed cable could definitely cause the system to appear to slow down, too.
Replace the keyboard. If it's a PS/2 plug keyboard, replace it with a USB keyboard to completely rule out the possibility that it's a bad PS/2 jack.
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