Drive me crazy, keyboard cat

March 18, 2011 8:29 PM

Catwalkedacrossmykeyboard filter: My cat sauntered across the keyboard of my Powerbook G4 (running 10.4.11) while I was using it last night, and now the display-- the desktop-- is responding weirdly to the cursor. Help?

When I move the cursor, the whole damn background + icons move. Moving the cursor now, with a browser window open, slides the whole browser window around. The icons don't all display at once, and I have to move the cursor around to locate them off the "edges" of the display. It's as if the desktop is somehow exists in a larger space than the display, and as I move the cursor the whole window shifts to give me a view of the hidden parts. I have tried the obvious: restarting, looking for a way to change it in the Finder's view options, checking system preferences, sleeping on it and trying again, and attempting to phrase a question for MacHelp (not too productive). What am I overlooking, and how can I change it back? If it's any help, he walked across the top part of the keyboard, going left to right, and managed to open up Spotlight at the same time.

posted by jokeefe to computers & internet (7 answers total)

Try hitting Command-Option-8. Your cat may have turned on screen zoom.
posted by aaronbeekay at 8:47 PM on March 18, 2011

Yup, that sounds like screen zoom. Settings for it are under "Universal Access" in system prefs (since it's intended for people with visual impairments).
posted by hattifattener at 8:55 PM on March 18, 2011

THANK YOU so much! Instant fix. Askme, you're the best.

Now, if you could just tell my cat to quit laughing at me, we'd be good to go.
posted by jokeefe at 9:05 PM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

If your cat keeps giving you attitude, play Scarlatti's Cat Fugue (harpsichord performance YT link here) and lay a good-for-nothing-no-talent-slacker guilt trip on him.
posted by Quietgal at 9:35 PM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Flagged Quietgal's comment as catfilter.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:33 PM on March 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

As a cat owner whose cat woke him up by waking his laptop up at 3am this morning with an errant paw...you have my sympathy.
posted by carlh at 5:07 PM on March 19, 2011

"Errant", huh? I'd double check that....
posted by jokeefe at 11:59 PM on March 19, 2011