What the hell is going on with IE? I thought this was just me or my notebook’s mouse, but I’ve seen this on another machine that is running with a Trackball Explorer (which is dead on accurate with it’s clicks) so I think it’s the code that’s misbehaving. The scroll bars seem to be all funky now, with the November IE Patch Roll-up that I installed this morning – I seem to be scrolling more than I used to and it just started today and it only happens with IE…
I guess I should explain myself better. On a scroll bar there’s the “elevator button” those shows where you are and how much data is in the scrollable window in question. If there’s a lot of data – i.e. the Outlook Junk Mail box window – then the elevator button is very “not-tall”. If there’s not a lot of data – i.e. an Inbox with a dozen emails – then it is a pretty large box. Confused? Look at the scroll bar on my main page and then click through to a shorter posting and look at the difference in sizes of the elevator button.
Now that we’ve got that defined, it’s well known and a time-honored tradition that when you click on the space below or above the elevator button that the window would scroll one “page” in that direction. If you clicked and held in that space, the elevator would continue to scroll and eventually stop at wherever your cursor is. I know this behavior was in Windows as early as Windows 95 but it might have even started in Windows 3.1 or 3.0 – a damned long time is what I’m sure of.
And now it’s broken in IE. I noticed it on one of the Phone forums that I read, because they have at least five screens worth of information, and that makes for a moderate sized elevator button. When I click on it, it seems to pan a few screens worth instead of just one. If I click and hold, it still scrolls to the arrow – it’s just the single click on the spaces around the elevator button that seem to be shmengied. The further away from the elevator that you click the more noticible this is. The problem I have with it is that where I used to be able to click a page down at a time, I now jump all over the page: it is dependent on the size of the elevator button. And while this sounds minor, it is actually as annoying as fuck because it’s as unpredictable as the page’s length. On a good note, however, the Page Up/Down keyboard button and right mouse click menu items still behave – it’s just the mouse click that’s iffy.
The question now is how long until they fix it.
If you feel like you’re in hell, you should see the gag “Get Out of Hell Free” card another ranting Randy put out. It’s a riot. :-)
http://www.GetOutOfHellFree.com
Hah! Now that’s a hoot!
So I’m not the only one having scrolling problems since installing Microstuffed’s IE6 November patch. I’ve just spent 2 hours reloading my mouse driver & searching all over the web for mouse scrolling problems & solutions, not realising that it’s actually a Microstuffed patch’s fault.
Oh well – they might fix it in time for Xmas. Looks like I’ll have to stick with Mozilla for the time-being (although it’s very good, I like to use the Avant Browser which runs on the IE6 engine as it allows you to change your proxy server immediately via a drop-down menu, which is good when visiting sites that won’t work with your ISP’s address).
By the way, I’ve got some good quality freeware on my website. It’s mainly stuff that has since become shareware or disappeared when the developer’s site closed.
I forgot to include my website: http://www.comcen.com.au/~scottford
@Scott – yeah, I figured it was patch… I also wondered if anyone else would notice. Glad it’s not just me for a change! And thanks for the link – ever bit of bits helps!
Has this been fixed yet? It’s a pain in the ass.
I haven’t seen a download for it yet and Microsoft is saying that it won’t ship more than one batch of security patch per month. Seems that a bunch of whiny groups have complained about the amount of updates so now MS will consolidate them which pisses off other people (like me) that will have to wait for updates.
This is the only place I’ve even seen a mention of this stupid “feature”. It seems intentional, but it drives me crazy! I’m glad it’s not just me that thinks this s*cks.
Intentional? Some how I doubt it… I mean it’s sorta odd that they went for over 2 years with this release of IE only to change the scrolling order now… I have seem major things change and get fixed with 0.0.1 update, so I’m hoping this is a break and not a fix!
Either way, sorta scary that it’s as isolated as it is… that makes me worried.
Once you all find out when the fix is out please email me with a link please. Thanks! :-)
dhovanecATmailDOTucfDOTedu
Thanks for the rant — I’ve looked all over mouse settings, all sorts of things trying to figure out what went bad on the system. Google found your page here, so now I know that it’s not just my system. Leave it to uSoft. Agree that this had better be a bug and not a ‘feature’.
I’ve also had this problem since downloading this update.Think I’ve found a short term fix.
Download and install the Intellipoint 4.12 drivers, go to the advanced settings there you will find a box with various programs where the mouse wheel has been disabled, IE5 is one of them,
delete this and you should find the scroll working again.I’ve even uninstalled the drivers and the mouse is still working.
Running Win ME and IE6.
Just a follow up that, as of January 5th, M$ has not released a patch for this fix.
I think there’s people at Microsoft that have very little to do so they think up things to annoy the masses. Unlike most, I assumed right away that they created the scrolling problem because I almost always have some kind of problem after installing one of their updates. I guess they have never heard the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it”. They just won’t leave things alone. They keep messing with it until it’s screwed up and I’m sure they never considered the concept of troubleshooting before they release.
Wonder why MS won’t even acknowledge the problem on their website, even though it seems to be affecting a pretty large group of people, most likely everyone who’s applied the patch.
Probably a lot of people don’t notice it… it only shows up under certain sized windows and pages… impacts my life a good deal b/c I have a high resolution, but not everyone runs at 1400×1050 or 1280×1024… and since a lot of people cried about “too many updates” MS said no more every week – now they’re once a month.
I’ve noticed the same problem recently, and didn’t know it was related to the November patch, but it makes sense. It’s really annoying, when you’re used to using the gray space on the scroll bar to page down, and it works in all other programs except IE. I’m so glad to find this website! Now I know I’m not alone; this is the only web page I’ve found acknowledgement of the problem, except for two questions posted on experts-exchange.com.
See: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Browser_Issues/Q_20799913.html and http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Browser_Issues/Q_20806124.html.
You have to register there to get the “solution,” and I don’t want to register. If anyone finds out the “solution,” please post the answer here!
Thanks!
A
Actually, I’m a member there :)
As is per usual, the first one offers the typical “reinstall IE6” bullshit, but one guy does notice that it’s the “Q824145 ‘security update'” that “messes up IE6 scrolling”
The second one mentions that you can uninstall the November patch and install this one: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-048.asp which is the same fix, but without the scroll bar issue.
I haven’t tried it, as I’m used to this and a Dec/Jan/Feb patch should be out soon, but that’s the only known work around.
Randy,
Thanks for the info. Do you think it’s better to wait for the new patch (and assume it’s going to fix the problem) than to uninstall the Nov. patch and install the one with the same fix minus the scroll bar issue? I don’t know how to uninstall the Nov. patch.
Thanks.
A
Not a clue. I think there should be an entry into the “add/remove programs” list via Control Panel but overall I’m leaving it as it and will wait for a newer patch. There’s always the possibility that MS won’t include a fix for this in the newer patch either, but it’s almost always to go with the newer stuff. I’m also assuming that the scroll bar behavior we’ve noticed is an error and not a feature – there’s sometimes a subtle distinction between the two.
Patience pays off. They’ve issued the new critical update for IE, and it fixes the page down scrolling problem. Hurray!
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp?page=productupdates&sec=criticalupdates
Erg. I thought I posted that here on this thread but it never made it here… thanks for the follow up!
It’s fixed! It’s fixed! That page and a half scrolling was driving me nuts! Thank you very much! Bob S.
Yep yep – a recent update fixes it :)