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why is there a blinking vertical cursor line at the last mouse click location when it is not a data input point?

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 242 views
  • Last reply by steve254

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over the last few days there is a small vertical cursor line that appears at the last mouse click location like it's waiting for me to type something there. like the browse button below. if i click outside the box a blinking vertical cursor line appears outside the box where i clicked. it is obviously not a place where input should be expected. this has only started over the last week or so and only with firefox it doesn't happen with chrome. I just opened a story on fox. the title of the story is not a link or a place for me to type or enter text but if i click anywhere in the title text a blinking cursor line appears.

over the last few days there is a small vertical cursor line that appears at the last mouse click location like it's waiting for me to type something there. like the browse button below. if i click outside the box a blinking vertical cursor line appears outside the box where i clicked. it is obviously not a place where input should be expected. this has only started over the last week or so and only with firefox it doesn't happen with chrome. I just opened a story on fox. the title of the story is not a link or a place for me to type or enter text but if i click anywhere in the title text a blinking cursor line appears.

Chosen solution

This happens when caret browsing is enabled.

You can toggle caret browsing off/on by pressing F7 (Mac: fn + F7) like posted above.

  • Options/Preferences -> General: Browsing
    remove checkmark: [ ] "Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages"

You can disable the F7 key by setting accessibility.browsewithcaret_shortcut.enabled = false on the about:config page.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

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Chosen Solution

This happens when caret browsing is enabled.

You can toggle caret browsing off/on by pressing F7 (Mac: fn + F7) like posted above.

  • Options/Preferences -> General: Browsing
    remove checkmark: [ ] "Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages"

You can disable the F7 key by setting accessibility.browsewithcaret_shortcut.enabled = false on the about:config page.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

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Thanks I was concerned I had some kind of key logger going on! Still using win7 it's a bit scary but I hate 10 Thanks Steve