Strange Happenings When Replying To A PM

[hlewton]

In a forum powered by vBulletin a strange things just started happening. In trying to figure a time frame for this I believe it was soon after having to update FireFox to version 39.0.3. Also because of some other oddities that have always been there for me I have to use FF and not IE.

So the problem that has just developed is when replying to a PM the text I type will not follow along the lines you expect typing to follow. I’ll be typing along and the cursor will jump back to the beginning of where I originally started typing my response. Even if I place the cursor where it belongs it will jump back to the original starting point of the PM’s reply. I have been cutting and pasting the out of place text and putting it where it belongs but if there is a mistake like “twowords” I cannot place the cursor between the “o” and the “w” to correct it. This problem is consistent no matter which Win 7 computer I use. The admins at the site claim it is nothing they have done or changed.

Any ideas why this is happening and how to correct it?

Thanks.

[HansV]

Are you using a laptop with a touchpad? If so, try turning off the tap behavior of the touchpad temporarily to see if the problem goes away.

[hlewton]

No it's a regular desktop with a normal keyboard. I just tried IE there and it is terrible as well. I remember now why I couldn't use it.

[PJ_in_FL]

This sounds like there may be a bad or misbehaving shell extension.

There are techniques for diagnosing such miscreant behavior, mainly of the "divide and conquer" variety. One tool that's very helpful in finding the offender and banishing he/she/it to the shell extension limbo where he/she/it belongs is ShellExView from Nirsoft.

Easy technique to determine if this is the problem is to open ShellExView, disable ALL shell extensions then see if the problem goes away. If it does, reenable HALF of the shell extensions and see if it returns. If not the leave those enabled and reenable half of the remaining extensions. Keep going through that process (binary division) until the only extension disabled is the problem child. You can then see if there is an updated version that fixes the problem, leave it disabled or remove it from your computer altogether.

If that's not it then I'll blame it on "Ida No". She's always causing problems.

[hlewton]

This sounds like there may be a bad or misbehaving shell extension.

There are techniques for diagnosing such miscreant behavior, mainly of the "divide and conquer" variety. One tool that's very helpful in finding the offender and banishing he/she/it to the shell extension limbo where he/she/it belongs is ShellExView from Nirsoft.

Easy technique to determine if this is the problem is to open ShellExView, disable ALL shell extensions then see if the problem goes away. If it does, reenable HALF of the shell extensions and see if it returns. If not the leave those enabled and reenable half of the remaining extensions. Keep going through that process (binary division) until the only extension disabled is the problem child. You can then see if there is an updated version that fixes the problem, leave it disabled or remove it from your computer altogether.

If that's not it then I'll blame it on "Ida No". She's always causing problems.

Thanks for the suggestion. Just asking though, wouldn't it have to be a very odd coincidence if it were a shell extension causing the problem when it happens on at least 2 Win 7 computers?

[PJ_in_FL]

I'd suggest letting facts lead the investigation. With the vast number of extensions and multiple factor configurations speculation is a guessing game (but then it always is anyway ).

Suggestions:

1. Try the "no shell extensions" test on one and if the problem goes away then repeat on PC # 2.

2. Since you mentioned you were stuck with FF, do you have NOScript installed? If so, then disable all scripts for that domain and if the problem goes away, possibly a script on the page is repeatedly firing, causing the insertion point to return to the first position of the input field.

3. An alternative test is to open the web site in IE just to see if it's specific to FF. If so, ask the site admins if they tested with the latest FF.

Finally, as a work-around until the issue is resolved, type your reply in Notepad, then cut and paste your completed reply into the input field.

[hlewton]

Thank you. I do believe I have isolated it to FF. IE is till acting very strangely at that site in that it will skip so many characters and spaces causing me to have to retype them to get them to show up. The owner there had me try a browser called Slim Browser. It was twice as bad as IE and after testing it herself she agreed it sucked. It may still be something specific to that forum but until FF latest update it worked fine. Now Chrome works very well for me me so until FF gets repaired I'll use that at that site. I will try to see if I can find that script solution but I am not at all familiar with the procedures you mentioned.

I do believe something about the site is causing the problem because since joining it over a year ago I have never been able to use IE which is what I use at all other sites including this one with no problems. Even FF works well here but then I have never tested it in a reply to a PM which is where I have the problems at the other site.

[PJ_in_FL]

Did you try the "No Script" option to see if there was a script causing the problem?

[hlewton]

I think I did. Not being at all familiar with it or much else I looked to see if it was there as an addin and didn't see it.