Jumping cursor

Hello!
I am having a problem while writing emails on mail or writing up some other short word documents.

Apparently at times the cursor jumps from a line to another basically if I write

aaa bbbbb cccc
dddd

while I write ddd it gets back to bbb ??? *** ??

All alone. and it is hard to see when it happens but it happens. At first I tought is me being dumb hitting the arrow or something but is not the case...apparently.

Any suggestion/idea ? thank you ...

If you are on a laptop that has the track pad on it could be because you are accidentally touching the pad while you type.. I had this same problem, but then I put in a mouse and told preferences to disable the track pad and I havent had any problems since..

Murlyn said:

If you are on a laptop that has the track pad on it could be because you are accidentally touching the pad while you type.. I had this same problem, but then I put in a mouse and told preferences to disable the track pad and I havent had any problems since..

Click to expand...

That is correct. I managed to disable the trackpad while writing...but with an Apple one button mouse on and the disable touch pad when mouse is on selected...the trackpad is still alive when the mouse is on.

Any idea ?

I tried even to set this as root...no luck. Trackpad is always active despite the mouse being on and the Do not move..selected...

It sounds like corrupted preferences and you need to trash your preferences, although Im not sure which file that info is stored in

gurugeek said:

That is correct. I managed to disable the trackpad while writing...but with an Apple one button mouse on and the disable touch pad when mouse is on selected...the trackpad is still alive when the mouse is on.

Any idea ?

I tried even to set this as root...no luck. Trackpad is always active despite the mouse being on and the Do not move..selected...

Click to expand...

There is currently no way to disable the trackpad while using the Apple mouse with notebooks (iBooks and G3 & G4 Powerbooks). It is a known issue with the mouse, and the only "solution" is using a different one.

From Apple Online Support:

"Symptom - The trackpad continues to work even though the "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present" option is enabled and a mouse is connected."

"Solution - If you are using a later model Apple Pro Mouse (including all white optical mice and black optical mice with white cables), this setting may not work. Apple is investigating this issue and will post more information here as it becomes available. If available, you can use an earlier Apple mouse to avoid the issue."

Well there you go! Good to know.. I have never had any problems, but that is because I have the Kensington Optical Elite.. which I most definitely recommend! It has a right and left button, it has a scroll wheel that can be clicked and programmed, and it has two side buttons that can also be programmed.. It's quite a nice mouse

Murlyn said:

It's quite a nice mouse

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Yes, but it doesn't have the "Apple look" that I love about my Apple mouse. Somehow, I just don't think another mouse would look right sitting next to my iBook.

*laugh* I guess I am into functionality since I am a programmer And the look of things is just an added bonus and I like my little blue glowing mouse!

Murlyn said:

*laugh* I guess I am into functionality since I am a programmer And the look of things is just an added bonus and I like my little blue glowing mouse!

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Haha - don't get me wrong, I appreciate functionality as well. I just love Apple's style, and all of the small details that other manufacturers would ignore or overlook, like the design of my iBook's power adapter, the pulsing glow when it's asleep, the illuminated Apple logo on the case, the pop-down hidden latch on the lid,...well, you get the idea.

Just mentioning those things gets your blood flowing doesnt it! No I understand completely, but Ill tell ya if I didnt have the mouse I have.. my production cycle would be quite a bit longer I do love that it has this really kewl blue glow though.. that makes it all worth while

Murlyn said:

No I understand completely, but Ill tell ya if I didnt have the mouse I have.. my production cycle would be quite a bit longer I do love that it has this really kewl blue glow though.. that makes it all worth while

Click to expand...

I can imagine - I just checked it out at Kensington's site, and it has some nice features (considerably more than a single massive button ). Too bad they don't have any pictures of it glowing, though .

Padawan said:

Too bad they don't have any pictures of it glowing, though .

Click to expand...

Your wish is my command! *grin*

and one more! This one reminds me of tron's bike for some reason

Murlyn said:

and one more! This one reminds me of tron's bike for some reason

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Nice! It even looks like it matches your Powerbook pretty well. Now I wish my mouse lit up too.

Yeah it does match it well *grin* I knew it! Blue glowing mice are addictive!

Well, this is all fascinating... i found this from 2003 after a search to find if anyone had responded to my question. I'm using a (new) MacBook with a Mighty Mouse and had a similar problem until my s-i-l suggested the disable trackpad. It worked and the cursor hasn't jumped since! [my earlier post to my question]: Answering my own question, after help from son-in-law...! If you're using a mouse (I have Mighty Mouse attached through Bluetooth) go to System Preferences, unselect all Trackpad Gestures, and then select "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present." That seems to have tamed my kangaroo cursor.