An aquaintance of mine has some troubles with Windows word processing (specifically, Word 2002/WordPad). Specifically, the cursor eventually (after anything from 20 seconds to 5 minutes following no pattern I could identify) starts moving around the document pretty much at random, making typing the tiniest bit awkward. Virus scan, HijackThis and Spybot came up empty and deinstalling/reinstalling Word plus installing the Office ServicePack did exactly jack shit (system is a 6 year old laptop running XP Home Premium cum SP3).
As the problem is apparently not limited to Word (WordPad does the exact same thing, or so she claims) I suspect simply switching to another word processor might not make much of a difference. Anybody got any ideas?
Windows XP word processing troubles
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Batman
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Windows XP word processing troubles
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
What antivirus is she using? If it's Norton or McAfee I'd suggest scanning it with Avast or Kaspersky.
How long has the computer been used without a reinstall? The problem sounds like a virus, but a reinstall would also make the computer run much smoother overall. Consider this a last ditch option.
Try LibreOffice? Open source word processor that can open Word files and just about any document format. It can also export to pdf without needing Adobe. Did I mention it's open source?
It could also be the mouse or touchpad. If you have a touchpad on a laptop and type with it sometimes your wrist will rest on the touchpad and will cause the cursor to move. Consider disabling the mouse or touchpad during the usage of Word and that solves it try a known good mouse (or disable the touchpad and use a mouse).
How long has the computer been used without a reinstall? The problem sounds like a virus, but a reinstall would also make the computer run much smoother overall. Consider this a last ditch option.
Try LibreOffice? Open source word processor that can open Word files and just about any document format. It can also export to pdf without needing Adobe. Did I mention it's open source?
It could also be the mouse or touchpad. If you have a touchpad on a laptop and type with it sometimes your wrist will rest on the touchpad and will cause the cursor to move. Consider disabling the mouse or touchpad during the usage of Word and that solves it try a known good mouse (or disable the touchpad and use a mouse).
If it waddles like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's a KV-5.
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Vote Electron Standard, vote Tron Paul 2012
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Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
Something called Avira Antivirus. And I already told her to get a proper antivirus program.TronPaul wrote:What antivirus is she using? If it's Norton or McAfee I'd suggest scanning it with Avast or Kaspersky.
Since the rig is 6 years old, I'd guess-six years?How long has the computer been used without a reinstall?
Not to me it doesn't.The problem sounds like a virus
And as I already said, since it isn't just Word but Wordpad too, I'm worried it might be a general problem that can't be fixed by installing a different word processor (or which there are available indeed).Try LibreOffice? Open source word processor that can open Word files and just about any document format. It can also export to pdf without needing Adobe. Did I mention it's open source?
No it couldn't. As I'm aware of those problems I did watch her type, and took care when I did, and neither her nor me ever touched anything other than they keys on the keyboard, yet the cursor moved around as it saw fit.It could also be the mouse or touchpad.
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
By cursor do you mean mouse cursor or the cursor showing where input is being placed in word (the blinking line)? I read your post as mouse cursor, but realized it could mean either.
If it waddles like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's a KV-5.
Vote Electron Standard, vote Tron Paul 2012
Vote Electron Standard, vote Tron Paul 2012
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Batman
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Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
Cursor as in cursor. The one that determines where your keyboard typing input goes. The one determining where your mouse is is called the mouse pointer.
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
It may be a Boot Sector Virus. Try running a decent antivirus in safe mode, maybe the virus won't be able to hide then. If not, you're pretty much screwed as these things can safely withstand reformatting.
The old method was booting up from a floppy/boot CD and running Fdisk /mbr. Some older motherboards have the BIOS embedded virus protection capability, you need to turn that off since it won't let you write to the Boot Sector. Since your friend is running an XP machine that still has DOS, I would try creating a boot disk/CD disk. Should be doable from the formatting manager, or just download a free DOS distribution from the net and set it up for booting, shouldn't be that difficult on XP. Last time I did that however was on 98 which wasn't NT based so I can't offer any practical advice.
The second thing I can think of is that the touchpad software is going crazey. Try turning off any touchpad managers and see if the problem persists.
The old method was booting up from a floppy/boot CD and running Fdisk /mbr. Some older motherboards have the BIOS embedded virus protection capability, you need to turn that off since it won't let you write to the Boot Sector. Since your friend is running an XP machine that still has DOS, I would try creating a boot disk/CD disk. Should be doable from the formatting manager, or just download a free DOS distribution from the net and set it up for booting, shouldn't be that difficult on XP. Last time I did that however was on 98 which wasn't NT based so I can't offer any practical advice.
The second thing I can think of is that the touchpad software is going crazey. Try turning off any touchpad managers and see if the problem persists.
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Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
Just some friendly advice, but he's genuinely trying to help you out and you're acting like Hermes stashed the Kerykeion up your ass.Batman wrote:Cursor as in cursor. The one that determines where your keyboard typing input goes. The one determining where your mouse is is called the mouse pointer.
What is Project Zohar?
Here's to a certain mostly harmless nutcase.
Here's to a certain mostly harmless nutcase.
Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
Don't be oversensitive. That was just a clarification. And a needed one, since I too always thought there is no difference between cursor and pointer.
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Batman
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Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
So far I've spent exactly one afternoon on the problem, most of which was sitting around while the virus scan/Spybot were running. So no, I didn't try a different keyboard/mouse (good idea, though, as is simply switching off the touchpad entirely).
Not that I see how sticky keys could make the cursor jump around like that (especially when I'm not using any of the cursor move keys).
Not that I see how sticky keys could make the cursor jump around like that (especially when I'm not using any of the cursor move keys).
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
Re: Windows XP word processing troubles
Does the laptop have a numpad integrated into the normal keyboard?
(Not dedicated keys, but as an alternate function)
If that gets toggled on, but numlock is off, hitting any of the dual-function keys will make the cursor move.
(Well, not any, but the ones serving as 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9)
(Not dedicated keys, but as an alternate function)
If that gets toggled on, but numlock is off, hitting any of the dual-function keys will make the cursor move.
(Well, not any, but the ones serving as 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9)