dragging cursor to highlight problem in Leopard.

I am having a hard time just explaining this.

The bug seems to be in the ability to drag the cursor for the purpose of
highlighting a few words or lines of text.

The drag does not catch from where I want a highlight to start and usually
lets go of the highlight completely by the time I am half way through what I
want to highlight.

Also, I usually drag the cursor down menu's but can not do that anymore.

Dragging the cursor is becoming the baine of my existence since installing
Leopard in my iMac 5.1

Anyone else experiencing this problem?

Thanks for listening.

Lee

Park Ridge, NJ

Heath Raftery <> wrote:

> Lee <rarrebird_@verizon.net> wrote:
> > I am having a hard time just explaining this.
> >
> > The bug seems to be in the ability to drag the cursor for the purpose of
> > highlighting a few words or lines of text.
> >
> > The drag does not catch from where I want a highlight to start and usually
> > lets go of the highlight completely by the time I am half way through what I
> > want to highlight.
> >
> > Also, I usually drag the cursor down menu's but can not do that anymore.
>
> Just a WAG, but is it possible you have a battery powered wireless mouse
> and the batteries are going flat? It almost sounds like click and holds are
> not registering 100%.

I'll second that. My Logitech cordless mouse on my PowerMac G4 was
misbehaving (jerky mouse movement) so I swapped the batteries and now it
is humming along nicely. In the past it has also lost track of mouse
clicks if the batteries were running low.

> Other than that, can you give a list of applications showing this behaviour?
> Maybe there's a constant there.

Another idea: try creating another user on the computer (in System
Preferences > Accounts) and see whether the mouse problem affects that
user as well.

If not, then there may be an issue with something like a preference file
affecting your normal user account.

Two other things to try:

1. Boot the computer from your Leopard DVD. Does the mouse also
misbehave there? If not, the cause is something installed on your hard
drive.

2. If the mouse is showing the same symptoms while booted from the
Leopard DVD, try booting from the original Tiger DVD that came with your
computer. Is that also showing the same symptoms?

If Tiger also has mouse problems, then it is probably a coincidence and
there is something wrong with your mouse - flat battery, a piece of hair
stuck in the optics, or similar.

--
David Empson

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:51:57 -0500, Jolly Roger wrote
(in article
<jollyroger->):

> In article <> ,
> Lee <rarrebird_@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> I am having a hard time just explaining this.
>>
>> The bug seems to be in the ability to drag the cursor for the purpose of
>> highlighting a few words or lines of text.
>>
>> The drag does not catch from where I want a highlight to start and usually
>> lets go of the highlight completely by the time I am half way through what
>> I
>> want to highlight.
>>
>> Also, I usually drag the cursor down menu's but can not do that anymore.
>>
>> Dragging the cursor is becoming the baine of my existence since installing
>> Leopard in my iMac 5.1
>>
>> Anyone else experiencing this problem?
>
> Nope not happening here.
>
> Do you have any haxies installed from Unsanity.com?
>
>

Thank you all. You made me do a little thinking with all your suggestions.

When reading your suggestions, first thing I realized was that I was
experiencing the problem before installing Leopard but no where near as bad.
Then, because of your suggestions I started thinking about the mouse which
is a wired Apple mouse. I purchased this computer in Feb. The problem started
in August when an Apple Store person told me I did not need a mouse pad for
this new mouse. I did not connect the two until just now. I got my old mouse
pad out and tried it and while a bit stiff everything seems fine now.
Highlighting and dragging works as it should.

The surface I was using the mouse on is "old" wood with a finish that has
cracked and chipped away so the surface is uneven and shiny/slippery.

Again, thank you.

Lee

Park Ridge, NJ

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:46:30 +0000, Jolly Roger wrote
(in article
<jollyroger->):

> In article <> ,
> Lee <rarrebird_@verizon.net> wrote:
>
<snip>
>> Then, because of your suggestions I started thinking about the mouse which
>> is a wired Apple mouse. I purchased this computer in Feb. The problem
>> started
>> in August when an Apple Store person told me I did not need a mouse pad for
>> this new mouse. I did not connect the two until just now. I got my old
>> mouse
>> pad out and tried it and while a bit stiff everything seems fine now.
>> Highlighting and dragging works as it should.
>>
>> The surface I was using the mouse on is "old" wood with a finish that has
>> cracked and chipped away so the surface is uneven and shiny/slippery.
>
> Aha! Yeah that'll do it! Optical mouses will function on fairly *even*
> surfaces. On such surfaces, the Apple store employee was correct that
> you don't need a mouse pad. But on uneven surfaces or glass surfaces
> (even frosted), you *definitely* do need a mouse pad.
>

For those of you who have access to an IKEA store, I bought one of these for
my mouse and it is brilliant:

<http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70079698>

It is steel and rigid (not obvious from image). Don't know what the
reference means to not using a wireless keyboard and mouse together; I have
my (wired) kb and mouse on the deskpad with no problems.

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:46:30 -0500, Jolly Roger wrote
(in article
<jollyroger->):

> In article <> ,
> Lee <rarrebird_@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:51:57 -0500, Jolly Roger wrote
>> (in article
>> <jollyroger->):
>>
>>> In article <> ,
>>> Lee <rarrebird_@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I am having a hard time just explaining this.
>>>>
>>>> The bug seems to be in the ability to drag the cursor for the purpose of
>>>> highlighting a few words or lines of text.
>>>>
>>>> The drag does not catch from where I want a highlight to start and
>>>> usually
>>>> lets go of the highlight completely by the time I am half way through
>>>> what
>>>> I
>>>> want to highlight.
>>>>
>>>> Also, I usually drag the cursor down menu's but can not do that anymore.
>>>>
>>>> Dragging the cursor is becoming the baine of my existence since
>>>> installing
>>>> Leopard in my iMac 5.1
>>>>
>>>> Anyone else experiencing this problem?
>>>
>>> Nope not happening here.
>>>
>>> Do you have any haxies installed from Unsanity.com?
>>
>> Thank you all. You made me do a little thinking with all your suggestions.
>>
>> When reading your suggestions, first thing I realized was that I was
>> experiencing the problem before installing Leopard but no where near as
>> bad.
>> Then, because of your suggestions I started thinking about the mouse which
>> is a wired Apple mouse. I purchased this computer in Feb. The problem
>> started
>> in August when an Apple Store person told me I did not need a mouse pad for
>> this new mouse. I did not connect the two until just now. I got my old
>> mouse
>> pad out and tried it and while a bit stiff everything seems fine now.
>> Highlighting and dragging works as it should.
>>
>> The surface I was using the mouse on is "old" wood with a finish that has
>> cracked and chipped away so the surface is uneven and shiny/slippery.
>
> Aha! Yeah that'll do it! Optical mouses will function on fairly *even*
> surfaces. On such surfaces, the Apple store employee was correct that
> you don't need a mouse pad. But on uneven surfaces or glass surfaces
> (even frosted), you *definitely* do need a mouse pad.
>
>

Glad I posted the problem here. It was really driving me nuts.

Thanks again.

Lee

Park Ridge, NJ

In article < et>,
Sally Thompson <> wrote:

> For those of you who have access to an IKEA store, I bought one of these for
> my mouse and it is brilliant:
>
> <http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70079698>

For those of us in the US, change "gb" to "us" in that URL; the price is
$29.99.

--
Support the troops: Bring them home ASAP.