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General discussion

Blinking Cursor

Mar 17, 2004 2:39PM PST

A friend of mine is using W98SE and has developed a blinking cursor that won't stop. It blinks quickly at all times reguardless of what program is being used or not used. We have tried setting the blink rate but that does nothing. Anyone got an idea what is causing this?

By the way, this has probably been addressed before but I see no way to search past posts on here. Is there a way?

Discussion is locked

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Re:Blinking Cursor
Mar 21, 2004 11:48AM PST

What? Does no one have any suggestions to offer?

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Re:Re:Blinking Cursor
Mar 23, 2004 8:39AM PST

Hi Charley..I have had the same problem on and off for about 5 months now..Mine actually started the *blinking* after installing a new Modem..Tried everything,reinstalled windows,checked for parasites,virus,trojans,you name it,i have done it..PC is clean of all..Mine doesnt do it all the time,may go for days,weeks even,but it always starts again,and its no way i have found to stop it..Ive checked to see whats running in the background,anmd nothing except what needs to be there..Seems this one is a big MYSTERY.Been to tech shop and they couldnt find anything either..Has frustrated me til now i just grin and bare it..seems its not going away..I click:ctrl/alt/delete and then click cancel,and it stops,sometimes after a while it will start again and then have to go offline and come back and never know when its gonna start up again..Truly is a aggrevating problem.Maybe one day will find the reason for it.if you do please post back and let me know,thank you..By the way the guys at the tech shop have tried every brand of modem and it does it with all of them,so possibly not the new modem,but thats when it started,(after modem went bad and had to install a new one.)Good luck.Hope you find the answer..

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Re:Re:Re:Blinking Cursor
Mar 24, 2004 10:59PM PST

Don't know if this will help, but I saw this on another forum in answer to a blinking cursor problem:

"It sounds like you have turned on Active Desktop which is a real resource hog and can cause problems on some computers. Try this, go to start, settings, active desktop. If there is a checkmark next to "view as web page" click on that line to remove the setting"

A quicker way to get to Active Desktop is to just right-click on any blank space on your desktop. Hope this helps.

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Re:Blinking Cursor
Mar 23, 2004 10:13PM PST

Charley,I also tried the path:start-run-msconfig/start,and not much there,except things that need to be..and have tried diffrent mouse,several diffrent brands and changed USB plugs..Got plenty of help from the kind and expertise people here and the guys at the tech shop,but nothing has worked.Have came to the conclusion that my PC is haunted,lol.The humor makes it a lot better to deal with for me,as i have surrender to this mystery.

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''Stopping'' a blinking cursor.
Mar 24, 2004 11:52PM PST

1. Click Start, Run, type sysedit, and then press Enter.

2. When the System Configuration Editor shows all the modules, click the Maximize (middle) item in the ULHC of the Win.ini window so that module has focus.

3. Scroll down the items under the [Windows] section until the cursor is sitting at the very first blank line -- perhaps that just before the [Desktop section. Type the following line, and then press Enter. This is supposed to cause the cursor to remain in the "ON" state. Entering it certainly want harm the system operation and if you don't like the result, simply delete the line at a later time:

Cursorblinkrate=-1

4. Of course, when you close this Win.ini file you should respond with an affirmative to save it, which for this to be effective, the system must be rebooted.

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Re:''Stopping'' a blinking cursor.
Mar 26, 2004 11:11AM PST

Thanks for all the replies to this post. I will have my friend read this. Hopefully, the suggestion by Cursorcowboy will be the cure for her as well as for others of you who have this problem. Thanks again!

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Re:''Stopping'' a blinking cursor.
Mar 27, 2004 4:41AM PST

Cursorcowboy, she has tried what you suggested but without any luck ... it's still blinking rapidly. Sad

She has done virus scans, spyware/malware scans, and anything else we can think of doing. Nothing was found and all else on this computer seems to function normally.

Well, if anyone can offer other suggestions, it will be greatly appreciated. Happy

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There is definitely ''something'' there.
Mar 27, 2004 9:42PM PST

Please note what they say can happen when a computer is "infected" and then these "five different tools" suggested for use. Use all five to eradicate any possible junk from your computer.

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Re:There is definitely ''something'' there.
Mar 29, 2004 5:30AM PST

Thanks, Cursorcowboy ... I will give her the URL to this page so that she can follow the information.