Cursor mischief

[Corporate Yank]

I seek wisdom and counsel from this august collection of computer knowledge. Not too long ago, I noticed while perusing threads of different sites by using new tabs to drill down through any given thread, my arrow cursor (normal) would change to a red circle with a diagonal slash across it. When moving this new cursor over the currently open tab, black arrows would appear over the left vertical border of the tab, and a rectangular box with a shaded lower half would appear next to the cursor. Now I do ingest moderate quantities of cheap red wine while surfing, but I can't for the life of me figure out what this is. It's probably something so simple that my oxygen starved gray matter hasn't had the capacity to discover the cause yet. Be kind, I know it's probably simple, but what the hell is it?

Thanks all,

CY

[matt_hooks]

Sounds like you've got Gremilns CY.

Just remember, don't feed em after midnight, and whatever you do DON'T LET THEM NEAR WATER!!!

As for anything constructive, sorry, I have no idea.

[kwachon]

It would appear that you have a left mouse button sticking in the on position. Quite a common occurence when the cable from the computer to the mouse gives out. Had the same problem some months back. New mouse and cable did the trick.

Hope this helps

KW

[Bushfiva]

The tabs are draggable: you can reorder them if you wish. So for example by left clicking and holding on the rightmost tab, you can drag it left to its new position. The little arrows and line are insertion points: where the tab will end up if you let go of the button now.

The barred circle indicates that you can't drag a tab into a browser window (or, indeed, almost anywhere else).

If it's doing it while you're not pressing the left mouse button then, as KW says, you've got a sticky mouse button.

Right clicking on a tab lists other options you may not have noticed before, including refresh all tabs, close this tab, and close all tabs except this one.

Incidentally, since you say you create new tabs to drill down through threads, did you know holding down the control key while clicking on a link will open that link in a new tab?

[Corporate Yank]

Thanks everybody. It appears to be a sticky left mouse button all right. Now off to the store for a replacement.

CY

[Wader2]

As you are going to replace the mouse - financial authority granted - you can try washing and drying it.

If is doesn't work nothing lost. If it does then a couple of Buds could be bought instead .

PS

Years ago I had a rather expensive keyboard but it suffered from sticky keys and uncommanded inputs - after I had poured coffee over it.

I photocopied the keyboard, turned it over and undid the case.
I removed the ribbon connector and the keyboard membrane.

I put the keyboard and case under running water and then dried them near a radiator. You should have seen the biscuit crumbs let alone the coffee.

Then I peeled the 4 plastic membranes apart and washed and dried them. Once dry I carefully realigned them and reassembled the keyboard. It lasted long enough for me to save up for a replacement.

One day, on spec, I dropped into a small hardware store to see what the damage would be. $15 got me a new keyboard - cheap as chips and not worth shopping around.

[hellsbrink]

Wouldn't go as far as washing it, normally it's only one screw that holds them together so they can easily be dismantled and cleaned.

But a sticky button is usually quite terminal. If you are useful with a soldering iron hey can be replaced, but with the cost of cheap meeces nowadays it's hardly worth the hassle

[frostbite]

Photocopied the keyboard? That's cheating!

So much more fun to replace from memory and then boot into DOS.