[Chabine]

My mouse has very erratic behaviour. Safari is the worst offender so I'll use that as my example. The mouse may function normally at first but then will no longer access links. The cursor will move normally but clicking will only switch the window from active to inactive. I won't be able to select, enter text boxes, close tab...all I can do i click on the bars and toggle from active to active.

This is on a MacBook Pro and stared while I was running Snow Leopard. I have since upgraded to Lion and the problem continues.The behaviour is the same whether I use the trackpad, an external mouse (Razer Death Adder) or the Magic Trackpad.

This is a major productivity drain and I am now hugely frustrated. Any help out there? I love my MBP and would hate to throw it through a window out of sheer frustration...

[bastion]

Chabine, on 01 February 2012 - 04:57 AM, said:

My mouse has very erratic behaviour. Safari is the worst offender so I'll use that as my example. The mouse may function normally at first but then will no longer access links. The cursor will move normally but clicking will only switch the window from active to inactive. I won't be able to select, enter text boxes, close tab...all I can do i click on the bars and toggle from active to active.

This is on a MacBook Pro and stared while I was running Snow Leopard. I have since upgraded to Lion and the problem continues.The behaviour is the same whether I use the trackpad, an external mouse (Razer Death Adder) or the Magic Trackpad.

This is a major productivity drain and I am now hugely frustrated. Any help out there? I love my MBP and would hate to throw it through a window out of sheer frustration...

This sounds very much like you've got some sort of 3rd-party "enhancement" software that's not behaving correctly on modern OS versions and is somehow affecting the way clicks are being reported to the OS (and then the applications).

A couple of questions that aren't obviously answered above:
1. Have you tried using a different account on your machine?
2. When you are in Safari, does everything except clicking work reliably? For example when you hover over a link does it show you where the link will take you?
3. Does it only affect interaction with normal windows, or does it also affect icons in Finder windows, icons on the desktop or dock, menus or menu items?

[Chabine]

bastion, on 01 February 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

This sounds very much like you've got some sort of 3rd-party "enhancement" software that's not behaving correctly on modern OS versions and is somehow affecting the way clicks are being reported to the OS (and then the applications).

A couple of questions that aren't obviously answered above:
1. Have you tried using a different account on your machine?
2. When you are in Safari, does everything except clicking work reliably? For example when you hover over a link does it show you where the link will take you?
3. Does it only affect interaction with normal windows, or does it also affect icons in Finder windows, icons on the desktop or dock, menus or menu items?

I took some time to doublecheck the details to respond to your questions.

1. I haven't tried another account as I am the only user on this machine. I can set one up if it may help.
2. I will see the cursor change for links - yes. I won't always see where the link takes me. I also find that I can't always select tabs, but if I close a few tabs I may be able to select one that was further down. I can't open new tabs with the mouse but Safari responds to "Command + T"
3. Finder and the dock seem unaffected. Safari is the worst. I am using Firefox to type this and I experience the same problems but to a somewhat lesser extent.

[bastion]

Chabine, on 05 February 2012 - 01:27 AM, said:

bastion, on 01 February 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

This sounds very much like you've got some sort of 3rd-party "enhancement" software that's not behaving correctly on modern OS versions and is somehow affecting the way clicks are being reported to the OS (and then the applications).

A couple of questions that aren't obviously answered above:
1. Have you tried using a different account on your machine?
2. When you are in Safari, does everything except clicking work reliably? For example when you hover over a link does it show you where the link will take you?
3. Does it only affect interaction with normal windows, or does it also affect icons in Finder windows, icons on the desktop or dock, menus or menu items?

I took some time to doublecheck the details to respond to your questions.

1. I haven't tried another account as I am the only user on this machine. I can set one up if it may help.
2. I will see the cursor change for links - yes. I won't always see where the link takes me. I also find that I can't always select tabs, but if I close a few tabs I may be able to select one that was further down. I can't open new tabs with the mouse but Safari responds to "Command + T"
3. Finder and the dock seem unaffected. Safari is the worst. I am using Firefox to type this and I experience the same problems but to a somewhat lesser extent.

Definitely try a different account. How about other things than window content in Safari? Menus, toolbar items and other controls in the prefs window?

You say Safari is the worst and it also affects Firefox to some degree, but Finder and the dock are unaffected. That's interesting. How about other applications? Instead of focusing on the single app that exhibits the worst issues, try to figure out what's common about the ones that do. Does it only affect browsers, for example?

[Boshemy]

bastion, on 05 February 2012 - 04:31 AM, said:

Chabine, on 05 February 2012 - 01:27 AM, said:

bastion, on 01 February 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

This sounds very much like you've got some sort of 3rd-party "enhancement" software that's not behaving correctly on modern OS versions and is somehow affecting the way clicks are being reported to the OS (and then the applications).

A couple of questions that aren't obviously answered above:
1. Have you tried using a different account on your machine?
2. When you are in Safari, does everything except clicking work reliably? For example when you hover over a link does it show you where the link will take you?
3. Does it only affect interaction with normal windows, or does it also affect icons in Finder windows, icons on the desktop or dock, menus or menu items?

I took some time to doublecheck the details to respond to your questions.

1. I haven't tried another account as I am the only user on this machine. I can set one up if it may help.
2. I will see the cursor change for links - yes. I won't always see where the link takes me. I also find that I can't always select tabs, but if I close a few tabs I may be able to select one that was further down. I can't open new tabs with the mouse but Safari responds to "Command + T"
3. Finder and the dock seem unaffected. Safari is the worst. I am using Firefox to type this and I experience the same problems but to a somewhat lesser extent.

Definitely try a different account. How about other things than window content in Safari? Menus, toolbar items and other controls in the prefs window?

You say Safari is the worst and it also affects Firefox to some degree, but Finder and the dock are unaffected. That's interesting. How about other applications? Instead of focusing on the single app that exhibits the worst issues, try to figure out what's common about the ones that do. Does it only affect browsers, for example?

I'm getting this too now. Is it possible it may be a virus? I recently accepted a friend accidently via yahoo instant messenger. I did not know this person, and now my yahoo is sending out malicious links via email. Tried changing password to no avail. I'm thinking I may have a virus or trojan horse? The trackpad problem started around the same time as this began. It won't let me click on certain links, will move erratically from left to right, etc. Seems to happen with safari, not so much when I'm just using the computer. I think I may try and disable my internet next time it's acting up, see if that changes anything.

[bastion]

Boshemy, on 10 February 2012 - 07:40 AM, said:

I'm getting this too now. Is it possible it may be a virus? I recently accepted a friend accidently via yahoo instant messenger. I did not know this person, and now my yahoo is sending out malicious links via email. Tried changing password to no avail. I'm thinking I may have a virus or trojan horse? The trackpad problem started around the same time as this began. It won't let me click on certain links, will move erratically from left to right, etc. Seems to happen with safari, not so much when I'm just using the computer. I think I may try and disable my internet next time it's acting up, see if that changes anything.

The chance of this being a virus is vanishingly small. And what you're describing isn't really the same as what the original poster described. You say you can't click on "certain" links. What differentiates those you can from those you can't? When you say it happens "not so much" when you're not using Safari do you mean it happens substantially less or not at all? Have you tried other browsers, and if so how to they behave? What happens when you try a different account?

[Boshemy]

bastion, on 05 February 2012 - 04:31 AM, said:

Chabine, on 05 February 2012 - 01:27 AM, said:

bastion, on 01 February 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

This sounds very much like you've got some sort of 3rd-party "enhancement" software that's not behaving correctly on modern OS versions and is somehow affecting the way clicks are being reported to the OS (and then the applications).

A couple of questions that aren't obviously answered above:
1. Have you tried using a different account on your machine?
2. When you are in Safari, does everything except clicking work reliably? For example when you hover over a link does it show you where the link will take you?
3. Does it only affect interaction with normal windows, or does it also affect icons in Finder windows, icons on the desktop or dock, menus or menu items?

I took some time to doublecheck the details to respond to your questions.

1. I haven't tried another account as I am the only user on this machine. I can set one up if it may help.
2. I will see the cursor change for links - yes. I won't always see where the link takes me. I also find that I can't always select tabs, but if I close a few tabs I may be able to select one that was further down. I can't open new tabs with the mouse but Safari responds to "Command + T"
3. Finder and the dock seem unaffected. Safari is the worst. I am using Firefox to type this and I experience the same problems but to a somewhat lesser extent.

Definitely try a different account. How about other things than window content in Safari? Menus, toolbar items and other controls in the prefs window?

You say Safari is the worst and it also affects Firefox to some degree, but Finder and the dock are unaffected. That's interesting. How about other applications? Instead of focusing on the single app that exhibits the worst issues, try to figure out what's common about the ones that do. Does it only affect browsers, for example?

[Boshemy]

bastion, on 10 February 2012 - 07:48 AM, said:

Boshemy, on 10 February 2012 - 07:40 AM, said:

I'm getting this too now. Is it possible it may be a virus? I recently accepted a friend accidently via yahoo instant messenger. I did not know this person, and now my yahoo is sending out malicious links via email. Tried changing password to no avail. I'm thinking I may have a virus or trojan horse? The trackpad problem started around the same time as this began. It won't let me click on certain links, will move erratically from left to right, etc. Seems to happen with safari, not so much when I'm just using the computer. I think I may try and disable my internet next time it's acting up, see if that changes anything.

The chance of this being a virus is vanishingly small. And what you're describing isn't really the same as what the original poster described. You say you can't click on "certain" links. What differentiates those you can from those you can't? When you say it happens "not so much" when you're not using Safari do you mean it happens substantially less or not at all? Have you tried other browsers, and if so how to they behave? What happens when you try a different account?

I'll try your suggestions when I get home. When I say it won't let me click on certain links, I mean sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. I'll click on what is obviously a link or a button to a new page and it will be treated as if it's not a link, nothing will happen. Other times it will work. Also, sometimes I won't be able to click on certain tabs in my browser. Other times, it will work.

THe reason I thought it may be a virus is I looked into solving the "yahoo sending out spam emails" problem. First, you change the password to your email. If you do that and it still is sending out virus links in the subsequent days, then you most likely have a trojan horse, password phisher or virus.

[bastion]

Boshemy, on 10 February 2012 - 08:24 AM, said:

THe reason I thought it may be a virus is I looked into solving the "yahoo sending out spam emails" problem. First, you change the password to your email. If you do that and it still is sending out virus links in the subsequent days, then you most likely have a trojan horse, password phisher or virus.

In general that would be a fair guess. Since you're using a Mac, it's frankly not. Malware can exist for Macs. Malware *does* exist for Macs. But really very little. (And off the top of my head I'm not aware of any actual viruses yet.) Is it possible you have malware on your machine causing your problems? Yes. But it's not likely enough to make sense as the first avenue of inquiry. Another possibility: How sure are you (and, relatedly, how are you sure) that the spam is actually coming from your Yahoo account instead of just masquerading as having done so?

[Boshemy]

bastion, on 10 February 2012 - 08:53 AM, said:

Boshemy, on 10 February 2012 - 08:24 AM, said:

THe reason I thought it may be a virus is I looked into solving the "yahoo sending out spam emails" problem. First, you change the password to your email. If you do that and it still is sending out virus links in the subsequent days, then you most likely have a trojan horse, password phisher or virus.

In general that would be a fair guess. Since you're using a Mac, it's frankly not. Malware can exist for Macs. Malware *does* exist for Macs. But really very little. (And off the top of my head I'm not aware of any actual viruses yet.) Is it possible you have malware on your machine causing your problems? Yes. But it's not likely enough to make sense as the first avenue of inquiry. Another possibility: How sure are you (and, relatedly, how are you sure) that the spam is actually coming from your Yahoo account instead of just masquerading as having done so?

Well there is nothing in my SENT folder. But I just got a reply from one of my contacts saying thanks, that he clicked on the link and signed up (uh-oh for him). When I look at his reply I can see my orginal email, which is just a link, and which had gone out to 6 or 7 people whom I know.

I initially realized it happened a few weeks ago, because I got a few "Undeliverable" messages to emails that I never personally sent. Basically it's sending messages to a bunch of people at a time, and on occasion one of the people it sends it to is an old/deactivated email account, so I get back an error message saying it's undeliverable. When I look at that undeliverable message I'm able to see who the message went out to.

[bastion]

Boshemy, on 10 February 2012 - 09:22 AM, said:

bastion, on 10 February 2012 - 08:53 AM, said:

Boshemy, on 10 February 2012 - 08:24 AM, said:

THe reason I thought it may be a virus is I looked into solving the "yahoo sending out spam emails" problem. First, you change the password to your email. If you do that and it still is sending out virus links in the subsequent days, then you most likely have a trojan horse, password phisher or virus.

In general that would be a fair guess. Since you're using a Mac, it's frankly not. Malware can exist for Macs. Malware *does* exist for Macs. But really very little. (And off the top of my head I'm not aware of any actual viruses yet.) Is it possible you have malware on your machine causing your problems? Yes. But it's not likely enough to make sense as the first avenue of inquiry. Another possibility: How sure are you (and, relatedly, how are you sure) that the spam is actually coming from your Yahoo account instead of just masquerading as having done so?

Well there is nothing in my SENT folder. But I just got a reply from one of my contacts saying thanks, that he clicked on the link and signed up (uh-oh for him). When I look at his reply I can see my orginal email, which is just a link, and which had gone out to 6 or 7 people whom I know.

I initially realized it happened a few weeks ago, because I got a few "Undeliverable" messages to emails that I never personally sent. Basically it's sending messages to a bunch of people at a time, and on occasion one of the people it sends it to is an old/deactivated email account, so I get back an error message saying it's undeliverable. When I look at that undeliverable message I'm able to see who the message went out to.

Here's the fun thing about e-mail: The To, From and Reply-To headers can all say absolutely anything the sender of the mail wants them to say. They're displayed by the receiving mail client, but they're not used in the actual transmission of the mail content. So if, for a couple of seconds or minutes before you got it locked down, your Yahoo account was compromised your address book could have been harvested in that time and then mail sent to every contact in there crafted so as to superficially appear it came from you. A look at the full headers of the message could help identify where it really came from - and I suspect the answer would be "not your account" - but virtually no one looks at those, especially for mail that looks like it came from someone they know personally.

(The fact that these headers are easily - and virtually always - forged by spammers and other miscreants is why it was never a good idea to include a "bounce" command in an end-user mail program. The bounce almost always goes to an innocent party. People keep thinking "I'll bounce it and they'll think it's a dead address" or even "Lots of us will bounce it and we'll flood their system and teach them a lesson" but it's not the actual villains who are going to get it. Bouncing spam from your desktop mail client is worse than useless.)

[Chabine]

It's taken me a while to get back here.... I had a couple event free weeks. However just as I decided to come post the good news, the erratic behavior came back with a vengeance. I have tried to discover the trends but I'm stumped (and my career is largely dependent on my skills at making observations and solving problems!). I have had problems in all sorts of programs: Safari, Preview, MS Word, Firefox. Safari seems to be the worst offender still. Things are erratic to the point that even behavior within a single window is not consistent. For example in Safari, I may be able to click in the address bar but not the search bar (it will toggle the window). I have had a similar experience in MS Word. I can select some fields but not others. However, if there is a keyboard method available, that will usually work. even more bizarrely, sometimes I have to click on a certain area of the menubar to make a window active. Specifically, if I click left on centre that may be ignored, but if click the centre/right side the window is selected.

I have noticed if a couple other things that I am not sure whether they are relevant. The most significant is that I have had a fe occasions where the memory usage gets very high and at least some of the time the computer gets very hot and a couple of times the MBP has shut down and refused to start until it has cooled. Secondly, Safari downloads are a bit odd, when I download a file it supersedes the most recent file on my downloads list (as seen in safari). Finally, I notice that I often get message that "certificate is invalid" for legit sites: Facebook and Gmail especially.

I have created a new user account and I'm giving that a try. Early days yet.

Any other ideas? Anyone?

[Chabine]

bastion, on 01 February 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

Chabine, on 01 February 2012 - 04:57 AM, said:

My mouse has very erratic behaviour. Safari is the worst offender so I'll use that as my example. The mouse may function normally at first but then will no longer access links. The cursor will move normally but clicking will only switch the window from active to inactive. I won't be able to select, enter text boxes, close tab...all I can do i click on the bars and toggle from active to active.

This is on a MacBook Pro and stared while I was running Snow Leopard. I have since upgraded to Lion and the problem continues.The behaviour is the same whether I use the trackpad, an external mouse (Razer Death Adder) or the Magic Trackpad.

This is a major productivity drain and I am now hugely frustrated. Any help out there? I love my MBP and would hate to throw it through a window out of sheer frustration...

This sounds very much like you've got some sort of 3rd-party "enhancement" software that's not behaving correctly on modern OS versions and is somehow affecting the way clicks are being reported to the OS (and then the applications).

A couple of questions that aren't obviously answered above:
1. Have you tried using a different account on your machine?
2. When you are in Safari, does everything except clicking work reliably? For example when you hover over a link does it show you where the link will take you?
3. Does it only affect interaction with normal windows, or does it also affect icons in Finder windows, icons on the desktop or dock, menus or menu items?

I don't live in the US but I recently went to CA on vacation and I took the opportunity to take the MBP in to a genius bar. It turned out that the problem was a DevonThink tray that resided on the left edge of my laptop screen. Once that was removed, everything worked fine. I just thought I would post the answer for the record. Thanks for your suggestions!