Why can't I copy and paste in OS X 10.5.5?

December 13, 2008 9:34 AM

Why won't my new Macbook let me copy and paste text in X 10.5.5??

Actually my girlfriend's computer. A Macbook 2.4GHz 4 GB. Just purchased it and installed the newest version of Leopard that came with the machine. The Copy and Paste function doesn't work.

In Firefox, pasting gives us a long line of what looks like some kind of hypertext code. In word, pasting yields nothing at all. It doesn't matter whether we use keypad shortcuts or the pull down menus to copy/paste.

I found this discussion on the apple help forums, but there doesn't seem to be any clear idea of what is happening. Is it possible that this has been going on for a couple of months and Apple hasn't addressed it? Do I just need to reinstall?

thanks

posted by milkman to computers & internet (3 comments total)

Just purchased it and installed the newest version of Leopard that came with the machine.

Huh? The machine comes with the latest version installed already.

A friend was having troubs with my own new Macbook cutting and pasting but that was because he didn't understand the new trackpad gestures. Tap and Hold (on the second click) turns on the ability to drag the selection. You have to tap again at the end point. He was dragging to the end point and then clicking copy, but the machine was still in select mode.

Watch the videos in the system pref panel for gestures or trackpad.
posted by Manhasset at 9:42 AM on December 13, 2008

It's an ActionScript (Flash) exploit to get you to go to that URL, which is a malware site. All it does is insert that little snippet of URL into the clipboard. Quit Safari, and avoid whatever site inflicted that piece of code on you. Cut and paste will work normally after you quit your browser, and cut something else into the buffer.

More info:
Here
and here.
posted by jpburns at 10:42 AM on December 13, 2008

And after you've quit Safari, install Firefox, then install the NoScript extension for Firefox. NoScript lets you whitelist sites you trust as you visit them, and only sites you've whitelisted will be allowed to run Flash or other script in your browser.
posted by flabdablet at 5:02 PM on December 13, 2008