Control-click stopped working in Firefox

April 30, 2006 12:52 PM

Control-click for tabs stopped working on Firefox 1.5 Windows -- how do I fix it?

I noticed today that when I go to control-click on Firefox tab to close it, all it does is highlight the tab title with a dotted line -- no little helper menu appears. I have to right click in order to close a tab. How can I get back the control-click power?

posted by gsh to computers & internet (6 comments total)

I always middle-clicked. However the Tabclicking extension allows you to set actions on Ctrl-click tabs, among others.
posted by adzm at 1:14 PM on April 30, 2006

Always wondered - what does middle click mean? Surely not three button mouse stuff?
posted by A189Nut at 2:44 PM on April 30, 2006

I always click my scroll wheel to close tabs... I've never heard of using "control+click", and seemingly it has no effect in my firefox anyway.

(and i think of clicking my scroll-wheel as a "middle-click")
posted by knapah at 2:59 PM on April 30, 2006

In the days before mousewheels, there was a third button there. Now, squishing down on the mousewheel middle clicks.

In any case, someone who is control-clicking on tabs is probably used to using a Mac. I don't think control-clicking on things to get a context menu has ever worked on Windows.
posted by majick at 3:15 PM on April 30, 2006

Control-click always works for me on a PC to open stuff in a new tab, just like a scroll-wheel-click when I'm using a mouse with a wheel.
Sorry, I don't know how to reinvigorate it. Maybe try deleting your setup folder, or starting a new profile -- have you tried that? Start Firefox from a command line with the argument -profile i.e. something like:
firefox -profile

create a new profile & see if ctrl+click works there -- if it does, then you'll need to reset (delete/recreate) your profile, I think.
posted by anadem at 7:37 PM on April 30, 2006

A189Nut: In the days before 3-button mice, many mouse drivers synthesized a 3rd button by translating left+right-click as button 3. Which is why mouse buttons number 1-3-2 from left to right.

Other mouse trivia: the traditional measure of mouse movement is the mickey. Some say it was named after Mickey Spillane. I've always maintained it was named after Mickey Dolenz (of The Monkees).

(Don't know what happens when you click all 3 buttons on a modern mouse. I gave up writing mouse-handling software before true 3-button mice were common.)
posted by Pinback at 11:10 PM on April 30, 2006