MetaChat - My cat sat on my computer

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26 April 2007

My cat sat on my computer and now Firefox is wonky. I get a blinking cursor on the screen that seems to be the anchor for the Page Up and Page Down commands which is making navigating hard. Thoughts on how to fix this? →[More:]As a clue, the open dialog boxes when I shooed the cat off the keyboard had to do with installing or enabling voice recognition software and turning on the microphone -- I'm assuming the cursor on the screen is how one might choose what text to be read out loud? But I can't figure out where that particular undo command is hiding.

post by: occhiblu at: 11:25 | 11 comments

It just occurred to me that perhaps the cat and the computer were trying to communicate with each other. Now I'm freaked out.

posted by occhiblu 26 April | 11:26

It just occurred to me that perhaps the cat and the computer were trying to communicate with each other.

"We invade tommorrow noon. Pass it on."

posted by jonmc 26 April | 11:28

Your cat has turned on caret browsing. Press F7 to return to the normal mode.

I just had the same issue myself, except the cause was my own wayward fingers.

posted by expialidocious 26 April | 11:44

YAY!

expiadlidocious, you are my hero.

I should actually have been able to figure that out, since the caret browsing warning often does pop up when the cat steps on the keyboard. She just also must have hit OK this time and made the dialog box go away.

Well, at least now I know that F7 is a good bet for the "De-cat computer" command.

posted by occhiblu 26 April | 11:48

This is exactly how the White House lost all those e-mails, by the way.

posted by interrobang 26 April | 12:28

This is becoming a frequently-asked Ask MeCha.

posted by stilicho 26 April | 13:52

Heh. So the question becomes: How do cats benefit from caret browsing? What nefarious plans to they have up their paws?

(Actually, my question is, how does anyone benefit from caret browsing? It seems like an odd feature; no wonder no one can remember what it's called.)

posted by occhiblu 26 April | 13:58

PawSense.

"PawSense is a software utility that helps protect your computer from cats. It quickly detects and blocks cat typing, and also helps train your cat to stay off the computer keyboard."

posted by the great big mulp 26 April | 15:12

I'm glad that expialidocious helped you. I would have just put the cat back on the computer. Like a toggle switch.

posted by youngergirl44 26 April | 19:23

Thank your cat for me, occhiblu! I had never heard the phrase 'caret browsing' and I have been asking people for years if any browser supported this type of navigation.

Note to self: Next time, direct such questions to people who are actually online.

posted by mischief 26 April | 20:11

I am more than confident in saying that my cat will be honored to hear that she helped mischief.

posted by occhiblu 27 April | 02:05

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