Major problems with 17" MacBook Pro

While using my MacBook Pro, I noticed that, for some reason, it was acting as if Shift was always held down, despite that both keys were working fine. Caps Lock had no effect (if the Shift key was held down, Caps Lock should have allowed me to type in lowercase). Confused, I reset the computer. When I logged back in, the problem was still present (and I couldn't type my password in without a USB keyboard), along with the fact that the sound was not working at all, and that windows were taking ten times longer to send to the Dock and open up again. The model is about a year old, and I haven't had any problems with it before now. I'm sure it's still in warranty, but are there any steps I should take before I take it into an Apple Store and get it worked on? There's a lot of software on here that I don't want to risk losing.

I need to ask... Have you spilled anything on your keyboard, even a small amount of liquid? If so, that could be the culprit. If not, make an appointment with the genius bar at your local Apple store and have it looked at.

Note: Spills and accidental damage are not covered by your warranty.