Keyboard modifiers are off, but some combination is "jumping" the cursor around.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jamie Furlong
  • Start date Start date
J

Jamie Furlong

My PC has started doing something annoying again; certain combinations of
keys are making the cursor jump around, in all applications, or switching
between windows.
It didn't do this for ages, and the key modifiers and accessibility thing is
definitely off, but still it does it, and it's driving me nuts!
I've posted things half typed, closed documents and accidentally said "no"
to autosave, and I can never work out what keys it is! So I just want them
all to stop and not get clever on me :)

It might be co-incidence, but the problem seem to have got worse with the
latest Windows Updates. In fact, what's definitely happened since last
update is that when a window "does something" in the background, and the
current window loses focus, I have to cycle through ALT-TAB to get the
window active again, but that's another matter altogether.
 
I am having the same problem with my laptop, and it also started happening
after the last update I did. I can't remember what it was though.
Ashley
 
Ashley said:
I am having the same problem with my laptop, and it also started happening
after the last update I did. I can't remember what it was though.
Ashley
Click to expand...

Did anyone find out what it was? I just lost a LARGE amount of text in a
webform, simply because the stupid stupid combination of shift and backspace
made the browser go back (even though it didn't do with when I tried again -
what's with that??!)
 
Shift+Backspace will not make the browser go back a page. Releasing the
Shift key a microsecond before you release the Backspace key will in
fact go back a page.
 
Jamie Furlong wrote:
Click to expand...
Shift+Backspace will not make the browser go back a page. Releasing the
Shift key a microsecond before you release the Backspace key will in fact
go back a page.
Click to expand...


Aaaah! You genious! So, how do I stop this?!? Is it a bug I can report? Is
there a way round it? Because it's REALLY annoying!
I've googled myself silly, and all I keep coming back to is "accessibility"
settings, which aren't on, on my PC.
 
Er, not so easy when you have to type REALLY fast :) Is there a better
solution to this problem?
 
Not that I'm not grateful to you for helping me analyse HOW the problem was
happening, but any idea where I could get help for the bugfix?
 
Bob, you're not really helping. If you can tell me you've never needed the
backspace key, then good for you.
But I reckon most of us have wanted to delete the last couple of letters at
least once per paragraph.
Or are you saying that the "feature" whereby the combination of backspace
release just a few milliseconds after releasing shift (not before, not
during, and not after a second or two) is intended? And if so, what exactly
is the intention???
 
Jamie said:
Bob, you're not really helping. If you can tell me you've never needed the
backspace key, then good for you.
But I reckon most of us have wanted to delete the last couple of letters at
least once per paragraph.
Click to expand...

Of course we need the backspace key.
Or are you saying that the "feature" whereby the combination of backspace
release just a few milliseconds after releasing shift (not before, not
during, and not after a second or two) is intended?
Click to expand...

This 'feature', as you call it, is how keyboards work. It's not a
feature. Keyboards only look at combinations of keys when pressed
together *at the same time*. Not "combinations that would have existing
if this key was held for 5 milliseconds, or 5 seconds, or 5 centuries
longer". Can you not see how nonsensical it would be to start having
your keyboard start second-guessing when you really meant to press and
release shift, etc?

In fact, you can see something like this in effect in Word etc., when
you have the auto-annoy feature turned it. It annoys a lot of people, me
included. But even Word auto-annoy doesn't start second-guessing you
based on keyboard timings.

And if so, what exactly
is the intention???
Click to expand...

The intention is that the keyboard does exactly what you tell it to. The
rest of the human race seems to be perfectly happy with this. Try being
more careful with your typing. Crippling keyboards because you did a
typo isn't the answer.
 
Shift + Backspace does nothing. Depending on context it is ignored or acts as backspace. Pressing forward will usually take you back with your text filled in still. If the focus is in a textbor it deletes the last letter. And I never use backspace.
 
David Candy said:
Shift + Backspace does nothing. Depending on context it is ignored or acts
as backspace.
Pressing forward will usually take you back with your text filled in
still. If the focus is
in a textbor it deletes the last letter. And I never use backspace.
Click to expand...
^^^^^

Ha! Funny guy :)
 
The intention is that the keyboard does exactly what you tell it to.
Click to expand...

No, I told the keyboard to do a capital "I", but I accidentally pressed "U",
so I released shift, pressed backspace, and went back a page losing the data
in the form. (Secure pages don't "regenerate" when you go forward).

So how is the keyboard doing what I told it to?!?
 
Jamie said:
No, I told the keyboard to do a capital "I", but I accidentally pressed "U",
Click to expand...

So, in fact you told the keyboard to do a "U". PBUAK.

You've got to realise the keyboard doesn't do "intention", it just does
"action".
so I released shift, pressed backspace,
Click to expand...

At which point the keyboard faithfully told the computer that you'd
pressed backspace. I really don't see what your difficulty is here in
understanding that keybaord did exactly what it is supposed to do.
and went back a page losing the data
in the form. (Secure pages don't "regenerate" when you go forward).
Click to expand...

That is the software doing that. Your keyboard just tells the computer
about which keys you have pressed.
So how is the keyboard doing what I told it to?!?
Click to expand...

By signalling to the computer which keys you have depressed. Pretty
simple really. (You can't tell the keyboard things via telepathy. The
way you do it is by hitting buttons.)

alex
 
It's very simple really.
1. There is not a "Shift+backspace" keycombo.
2. While you hold the shift the Backspace key is inoperative.
3. Pressing the backspace key will perform a function based on the focus.
4. When you have the shift key down, then press the Backspace key,
nothing happens. If you release the backspace key and then release the
shift key nothing happens. If you continue to hold the backspace key and
release the shift key a Backspace WILL be sent to the window with focus.
If in a text area, a character will be removed, if the browser has the
focus, you will go back one page.

There is no bug, the system is perfoming as advertised. I can't help
because there is nothing broken. If the user presses the keys, the user
gets the designed response. If the user doesn't like the response, the
user must be the issue. For instance if you press the "A" key and "E"
appears on the screen, the system has a problem, on the other hand if
the letter "A" in fact appears, then a user telling me that it is not
working properly leads one to wonder what the user was wanting it to do!
 
Alex Hunsley said:
Jamie Furlong wrote:

So, in fact you told the keyboard to do a "U". PBUAK.
Click to expand...

I have to admit I didn't know what PBUAK meant, so I looked it up, and just
what does "Pissing Bear Under A Kamala" mean in this context?!?
You've got to realise the keyboard doesn't do "intention", it just does
"action".


At which point the keyboard faithfully told the computer that you'd
pressed backspace. I really don't see what your difficulty is here in
understanding that keybaord did exactly what it is supposed to do.
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly. So we're on the same wavelength so far.
That is the software doing that. Your keyboard just tells the computer
about which keys you have pressed.
Click to expand...

RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!! OK, we're getting somewhere. Outlook Express does it, IE6
does it, Firefox does it.
Therefore....I assumed that it was some underlying feature of the OS that
said:
"IF the shift key has JUST been released AND IF the backspace key is press
within 300ms (or so), then send a signal to the software to go back a page."

In fact, when I first thought it was a Firefox problem and asked there, they
said it doesn't do it in Linux, then when I found that IE did it as well, I
assumed that is was an underlying OS bug. But this begs the question: why
would IE *AND* Firefox exhibit this quirky behaviour in the same way?

Bob's original reply (see below) didn't do anything to persuade me that it
was anything other than OS either, so you can see why I went round in
circles!

SO.....I need to figure out how to get some sort of debounce logic that
ignores or cancels whatever it is that says "go back a page if....(etc)".

Off to the IE group I go :) Thanks for the help, I think we got there in the
end, although I'd still love to know who designed this (quirky to my mind)
"feature" in the first place!
 
Jamie said:
I have to admit I didn't know what PBUAK meant, so I looked it up, and just
what does "Pissing Bear Under A Kamala" mean in this context?!?
Click to expand...

:) I was referring to "problem between user and keyboard". Nothing as
exotic as Kamalas (no idea what they are!)
Yes, exactly. So we're on the same wavelength so far.




RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!! OK, we're getting somewhere. Outlook Express does it, IE6
does it, Firefox does it.
Therefore....I assumed that it was some underlying feature of the OS that
said:
"IF the shift key has JUST been released AND IF the backspace key is press
within 300ms (or so), then send a signal to the software to go back a page."
Click to expand...

Hold on, let's get this clear. If you really were typing text into a web
form, backspace (or any combo of shift etc. and backspace) should not
cause the browser to go back a page. I've just tried various browsers
and I can't get this behaviour, which is correct. If, however, the focus
wasn't on a text field, and you then pressed backspace (or held down
shift, held down backspace, then released shift), then the browser will
go back a page. It's just how it's designed: pressing backspace when
you're not entering text into a text field does that. Are you sure you
didn't accidently hit TAB while typing and cause the focus to go to a
non-text field?
Of course, if your PC keyboard stuff is going crazy as you mention in
your first post, it might be completely random unpredictable
behaviour... so maybe not PBUAK.
In fact, when I first thought it was a Firefox problem and asked there, they
said it doesn't do it in Linux, then when I found that IE did it as well, I
assumed that is was an underlying OS bug. But this begs the question: why
would IE *AND* Firefox exhibit this quirky behaviour in the same way?
Click to expand...

If your windows is going crazy with random keypress stuff, then it's a
windows problem, from the sounds of it. Not really the fault of firefox,
IE etc...
Bob's original reply (see below) didn't do anything to persuade me that it
was anything other than OS either, so you can see why I went round in
circles!
Click to expand...

Hmm, I think it *is* the OS!
SO.....I need to figure out how to get some sort of debounce logic that
ignores or cancels whatever it is that says "go back a page if....(etc)".

Off to the IE group I go :) Thanks for the help, I think we got there in the
end, although I'd still love to know who designed this (quirky to my mind)
"feature" in the first place!
Click to expand...

I don't think there *is* any weird 'feature' in firefox or IE, I think
your XP is going crazy because of some problems it's having!
I would find other people reporting the same problem (googling etc) and
search microsofts knowlege base perhaps...

alex
 
Alex Hunsley said:
Jamie Furlong wrote:
Click to expand...
Hold on, let's get this clear. If you really were typing text into a web
form, backspace (or any combo of shift etc. and backspace) should not
cause the browser to go back a page. I've just tried various browsers and
I can't get this behaviour, which is correct. If, however, the focus
wasn't on a text field, and you then pressed backspace (or held down
shift, held down backspace, then released shift), then the browser will go
back a page. It's just how it's designed: pressing backspace when you're
not entering text into a text field does that. Are you sure you didn't
accidently hit TAB while typing and cause the focus to go to a non-text
field?
Of course, if your PC keyboard stuff is going crazy as you mention in your
first post, it might be completely random unpredictable behaviour... so
maybe not PBUAK.
Click to expand...

I think I'm getting closer! I thought perhaps it might be the wireless
keyboard, but then I remembered it didn't always do it.
Just to be sure, I plugged keyboard into an older Win2k machine, and it
didn't do it.

Then, I decided to just concentrate closely on the screen, while I just
"mashed" the keyboard, being sure to press SHIFT and then BACKSPACE from
time to time too.

Here's what I saw - something it taking focus off the current item, for just
a fraction of a second, and if I happen to backspace during that, then
that's when the problem happens, and I realise now that this started after a
windows update about a month ago. In fact, I've been bogged down with so
many things, that I forgot that I'd already worked this out (see original
posting, copied below).

So, back to square one. What could be causing that loss of focus for the
fraction of a second? I've closed down the running things, but then I've
also installed nothing new either. Also scanned PC with Adaware, S&D and
even the beta of MS Antispyware, and system was clean as expected.

I'll keep looking - if I find the answer, I'll post here!
 
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