Re: Had some strange happenings...

"Hawkeye23" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8tpb7258qrkmcnhflhni5sio5vt8v3kq5f@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 25 May 2006 11:04:09 +0100,
mothy <mothy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hawkeye23 wrote:
<snip>
I had a similar experience several weeks ago.
I use Forte Free Agent as my newsreader and was reading
Silversurfers as you do.
Out of the blue appeared on the screen an unusual shaped cursor
and pointer - both black as I recall.The cursor was a big black
diamond with an approx 1/4in line sticking out of each corner.
<snipo>
Hawkeye, do you have a clickable wheeled mouse. If you depress
the wheel a cursor can appear on screen similar to your description
which will allow you to scroll around the window with mouse movements
alone.
clicking again removes the feature.

Yep - I was going to mention that "Middle Button" "AutoScroll"
Feature, cos it sounds a (little) bit like that...
But the Cursor that you get with that Feature isn't a "big black
Diamond" with a "Line sticking out of each Corner"...

Maurice,yes my mouse does have a wheel between the two buttons
though I have never used it.

Do you not even use the Wheel as Wheel (for Scrolling) normally?
Or do you mean that you don't use it as a (3rd) Button?

...Now you mention it I have now found that it does click as well
as rotate.

Yep, many people don't realise that.

... It does not however produce the big black diamond cursor that
I am pleased you do recognise.

Normally that "AutoScroll" Cursor is a (faint, Grey) Outline
of Circle (with a Pale Background) & in the Circle there is an Up
& a Down Arrow, with a Black Dot in the middle.

Then, when you move the Mouse, the Arrow changes to Up (or Down),
depending which way you move the Mouse & the Arrow moves away from
the Circle - the further you move the Mouse, the further away the
Arrow Moves & the faster the Page Scrolls.

When I click on the wheel when in Free Agent message it changes
to the next unread (or red) message but no change in cursor.

Yep, some Programs can use the Middle Mouse Button for their
own Purposes.

But it's *windoze* that handles the "AutoScrolling" & it will
only "AutoScroll" - usually - in a Document that has several Pages
(Screen or Window - fulls) in a normal "List" type thing, then the
Scroll Wheel works as normal, without the Middle Button needing to
be Pressed.

Does anyone else recognise this big black diamond cursor and can
suggest under what circumstances it can appear.
Many thanks.

I'm not sure (from that description) what that Cursor is.
Any chance of a ScreenShot of it?

Is it any of the standard windoze Cursors?

have a look in the Mouse Properties (on the "Pointers" Tab)
& Scroll down that List - see if it shows up there?
(try some of the "Large" Schemes as well)

Also, Click the [Browse...] Button, which will show you a "Browse"
Dialog Box of a whole load more Cursor (.ani & .cur) Files, that are
stored in the "Cursors" folder, in the windoze Folder.

Or just Open the "Cursors" folder straight up by Navigating to it
using windoze Explorer, or...

Start>Run cursors [OK]

& finally, try doing a File Search for "Cursor" Files (.ani & .cur)

Start>Search
All Files& Folders
All Hard Drives
Search Criteria...
All or Part of the File Name: .cur; .ani

Note, use a Semi-Colon, followed by a Space (; ) to separate the
2 different things to Search for - that Saves having to do it twice.

In "Details" View, you'll see a (small) representation of the Cursor
Picture.
But if you Switch the Search Results to "Thumbnails" View, you'll
get a much bigger (& clearer?) Picture of each Cursor.

If you can pin down what the Cursor is (it may be supplied by a 3rd
party Pr4ogram), then you are going to be half way to sussing out
what causes it & what it's for.

HTH

--
pmj


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