*sigh*

[netmouse]

I wish there was a way to tell my whole computer, once and forever, "do NOT ever select the whole word automatically when I am editing". When I am moving the mouse to select something, I would like to select the part I indicate, thank you, not random other things too.

Whoever invented that option and made it the default in many programs has a special circle of hell waiting, I think.

Comments

[pnkrokhockeymom.livejournal.com]

That drives me crazy too.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_earthshine_/]

I'm so with you. Back in the good old days (like MSWord 5.1), i was trained by the simpler software to select exactly what i wanted, down to partial words, punctuation, and/or the exact number of spaces, to make the edit i wanted. Ever since software decided to "help" me, i've been fighting it. If i want the whole word/line/paragraph, i will double-click and/or click in the sidebar -- i've got it, thanks -- no, really.

...but i ask: MicroSoft has been justifying its existence and driving the necessity for faster computers and OS upgrades by trying to write software that thinks for us ever since the birth of Windows... why should we dare to hope it might stop now? Sadly, the rest of the world is slowly starting to follow suit. *sigh*

[branchandroot]

Yes. Yes, they do. And also the person who programmed the auto-capitalize that does it /again/ even after you go back and edit the word down to lower case.

[(Anonymous)]

Absolutely. I turn it off when I find it, but would be nice if there was a master switch.

[shekkara.livejournal.com]

Um, I was the anonymous post.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

You want a computer-wide default that overrides each individual piece of software? Somehow that doesn't sound like a good plan.

It is an awfully strange choice for a default, though. The auto-capitalize is more infuriating, but at least it's obvious what's going on and you can search for the toggle to turn it off. The whole-word select is subtle. I always think it's just me - I must be clicking the mouse accidentally - and keep trying more and more carefully to select just the letters I want. It takes me a stupidly long time to realize that it's an option that I have to turn off. *duh* I don't think that it used to be the Microsoft default until relatively recently (and by recently I probably mean "10 years." I'm a slow learner.)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

It's an MS thing. Another reason I avoid their stuff whenever possible.

"STOP! BEING! HELPFUL!"