My browsers have ADD
July 30, 2010 12:56 PM Subscribe
How do I get my browser(s) to stop back tracking? When I use both Firefox and Chrome on my office computer, the browser will automatically flip back to the previous page (as if I hit the "back" button) after about 30 seconds. It will actually keep doing it until it gets back to the first page I opened in the browser. It doesn't happen with all web pages (Gmail and Metafilter seem fine), but it's particularly a problem with media sites (e.g. local newspapers, the Atlantic, Good Magazine). I mostly get around it by holding 'ctrl' when I click a link so it opens in a new tab and can't back track. But it's a pain in the butt.
Is there a way to stop this?
Yeah, pressing Backspace is interpreted by browsers as a Back command. Maybe just try using a different keyboard.
posted by lizzicide at 1:10 PM on July 30, 2010
posted by lizzicide at 1:10 PM on July 30, 2010
(Ctrl+click opens a new tab!? This is amazing!)
This Yahoo Answer records a similar issue coming from some kind of interaction between ActiveX and Logitech mouse drivers. A bit more Googling suggests certain touchpads and other control devices can cause similar problems, too, and a wonky keyboard could also do it.
Since you say Metafilter and Gmail don't do it but busier pages do, the ActiveX/driver thing seems a real possibility. First step I'd do is open up a page that you know has this problem and unplug control devices one at a time. If you can isolate the issue, see if there's a newer driver out there for the device.
posted by kprincehouse at 1:19 PM on July 30, 2010
This Yahoo Answer records a similar issue coming from some kind of interaction between ActiveX and Logitech mouse drivers. A bit more Googling suggests certain touchpads and other control devices can cause similar problems, too, and a wonky keyboard could also do it.
Since you say Metafilter and Gmail don't do it but busier pages do, the ActiveX/driver thing seems a real possibility. First step I'd do is open up a page that you know has this problem and unplug control devices one at a time. If you can isolate the issue, see if there's a newer driver out there for the device.
posted by kprincehouse at 1:19 PM on July 30, 2010
Any chance this is caused by some kind of trackpad swipe? On Macs in Firefox I know two-finger swipe to the left means 'back', and a bunch of new updates on the OS recently added some more trackpad swiping stuff.
posted by 8dot3 at 1:19 PM on July 30, 2010
posted by 8dot3 at 1:19 PM on July 30, 2010
Response by poster: I don't think a stuck key is the issue. This has been happening for many months, and I'm usually not hitting any keys/mouse buttons when it happens.
The drivers are worth investigating.
posted by dry white toast at 1:23 PM on July 30, 2010
The drivers are worth investigating.
posted by dry white toast at 1:23 PM on July 30, 2010
1) Open up 2 browser windows side by side and navigate through a few pages on each, leaving a history. End up so one browser is at a site where you don't experience the problem, and the other at a problem site.
2) Click on your desktop, watch and wait.
3) Report back here on what happened.
---
Do you have gestures turned on anywhere? Maybe your mouse settings?
posted by Sonic_Molson at 1:36 PM on July 30, 2010
2) Click on your desktop, watch and wait.
3) Report back here on what happened.
---
Do you have gestures turned on anywhere? Maybe your mouse settings?
posted by Sonic_Molson at 1:36 PM on July 30, 2010
Response by poster: Sonic_Molson - Should I navigate to the same pages side by side, but end on different pages on each?
I'm not familiar with 'gestures'.
(not much of a tech guy)
posted by dry white toast at 1:42 PM on July 30, 2010
I'm not familiar with 'gestures'.
(not much of a tech guy)
posted by dry white toast at 1:42 PM on July 30, 2010
I would predict that in Sonic_Molson's experiment neither browser will show problems, because neither has focus. Another complementary test would be to have two browsers, both open to identical afflicted pages, to see if only the one with focus exhibits the problem.
(I still think unplugging the mouse is worthwhile even if the problem has happened when it's just plugged in but you're not using it. If the problem manifests "after about 30 seconds" it should be pretty quick to test, right?)
posted by kprincehouse at 2:21 PM on July 30, 2010
(I still think unplugging the mouse is worthwhile even if the problem has happened when it's just plugged in but you're not using it. If the problem manifests "after about 30 seconds" it should be pretty quick to test, right?)
posted by kprincehouse at 2:21 PM on July 30, 2010
"Gestures" were a bright idea that the Firefox guys came up with. What it means is that certain shapes of mouse movements without any mouse click are interpreted by the browser to be positive commands to which it will respond.
You definitely want to turn them off if they're enabled.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:26 PM on July 30, 2010
You definitely want to turn them off if they're enabled.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:26 PM on July 30, 2010
"(Ctrl+click opens a new tab!? This is amazing!)"
So does middle-click.
posted by Manjusri at 3:31 PM on July 30, 2010
So does middle-click.
posted by Manjusri at 3:31 PM on July 30, 2010
So does middle-click.
In Vista and presumably Win 7, middle click opens the enhanced alt-tab thing. (Window key-tab).
Is it a laptop with a touchpad? Because I've seen them fail where they move on their own and this could be triggering some kind of backspace hotkey besides a firefox gesture.
posted by gjc at 5:05 PM on July 30, 2010
In Vista and presumably Win 7, middle click opens the enhanced alt-tab thing. (Window key-tab).
Is it a laptop with a touchpad? Because I've seen them fail where they move on their own and this could be triggering some kind of backspace hotkey besides a firefox gesture.
posted by gjc at 5:05 PM on July 30, 2010
In Vista and presumably Win 7, middle click opens the enhanced alt-tab thing. (Window key-tab).
Not on my Win7-64 machine. Outside of a window it does nothing at all. On a link in IE or Firefox it opens the link in a new tab.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:49 PM on July 30, 2010
Not on my Win7-64 machine. Outside of a window it does nothing at all. On a link in IE or Firefox it opens the link in a new tab.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:49 PM on July 30, 2010
Sonic_Molson - Should I navigate to the same pages side by side, but end on different pages on each?
Hopefully does not matter, use any pages...it's just so that you have a history to test if the browser will go back, rather than starting a fresh window/tab with no history.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 10:18 PM on July 30, 2010
Hopefully does not matter, use any pages...it's just so that you have a history to test if the browser will go back, rather than starting a fresh window/tab with no history.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 10:18 PM on July 30, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kavasa at 12:57 PM on July 30, 2010