Black box highlighting everywhere I click

I came home from work today and found that when I click icons on the desk top there is a black box outlining the icon. It also happens when I'm in safari. When ever I click in a text box a black outline highlights around the text box I'm typing in. My question is this a setting that potentially got changed by one of my nosey siblings or is this a bigger problem.
The second problem I have is when I'm in finder and click the apple at the top of the screen there is two choices for "restart" "shut down" and "log off." For each choice one has three dots after it and the other doesn't. When I click the one with the three dots a box comes up saying "will shutdown/restart in....." and if I select the one that doesn't have the three dots it restarts or shuts down right away. Does anyone know why this is happening and if so what can I do to fix it?
Here are two pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.
Thanks for your help.
Russell

Hi,
Press command+f5
(You turned on VoiceOver by accident at some point)
PS. You can do simple screen grabs via pressing commandshift4 rather than photographing your screen

Similar Messages

Black Box on starting page.

Hello,
I really had a strange problem. Every time that I start up my iMac, in the starting page (or Welcome page - where it is shown the users) thare is a black box writing everywhere that the cursor goes, and a "man" is talking where I am, but what is strange is that my VoiceOver are off, the VoiceOver cursor are off, capition panel are off and speakable items are off. So how is it still working on the starting page (Welcome page)?
Please!! Somebody help me!! I'm getting crazy with this black box, and I'm new in these iMac stuff!!
Thank you for who reads and tried help!
Somel

Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups. Click the Login Options item at the bottom of the left pane. In that screen, towards the bottom of the choices, is an item named "Use VoiceOver in the login window" - if that is checked, uncheck it.
You'll probably need to unlock that window to make such a change.

Black box around buttons and windows

My 19 month old daughter has learned to climb up to the desk, and OPEN my laptop! Before I could stop her, or turn on AlphaBaby, she had pressed a number of keys, and now a little black box highlights various things in the programs I have open. As I type this, the red circle at the top left to close the window has a box around it. When I was trying to find how to turn it off in system preferences, the bar at the top with the arrows and Show All button had a box around it. In Mail my inbox window has a box around it.
Any ideas as to how to turn it off?
Thanks!
Heidi

Your daughter shows great promise!
Go to System Preferences/Universal Access and turn OFF Voice Over.
(She pressed Command-F5 !)

I want to highlight various words in a pages document with a yellow or black box behind the text

I want to use a highlighter in Pages. I know how to do it in steps.. but would like a shortcut to highlight various words throughout the document with a yellow or black box behind the text.. help

I got another idea. Create a style with the text and background colour you want. You can apply a short cut for that style. Beware that the styles is only for that particular document but you can import styles or you can use Save as Template and keep it as a template.

No matter where I click a black box appears and on the left side a black box telling me where my cursor is at the moment. How do I get rid of those black boxes?

No matter where I click a black box appears and on the left side a black box is telling me where the cursor is at the moment. How do I get rid of it?

 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Universal Access ▹ Seeing ▹ VoiceOver: Off

When I click on my thumdrive of the photos, I get a black box with an explanation mark. I am using iphoto 9.2.1

When I click on the thumbdrive pictures, it opens to a black box with an explantion mark. I am using iphoto 9.2.1. Note this just started last night.

Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. .
Regards
TD

Strange Black Outline Box Highlighting EVERYTHING after 10.4.7

Strange thing has happened to me since updating Tiger.
Now in every app the active text or button is surrounded by a thinline black box. I can't make it stop.
I originally did the upgrade via System Update, then repaired permissions as I usually do after an update. After I discovered the problem, I downloaded the Combo Update and tried again. No luck.
Perhaps this might also be a factor--my 19 month old daughter got to my system and when I intervened I found that she had opened up Automator. Via random keystrokes and mouse clicks, could she have used Automator to screw up my Finder.
Also, under the Apple pulldown, I now have two separate restart, shut down, and log out options. Is this true for everyone after this update?
This is my first major OS X screw up ever. HELP?!?

I just figured this out moments before reading your replies.
I had been using an external sound card and was not wearing my headphones. Once I popped them on, I heard the synthetic voice and realized what had happened.
Thanks, everyone!!

When using iphoto I can view the photos but when I double click on a photo it becomes a black box with a white circle on the screen

When using iphoto, I can view the photos but when I double click on 1 specific photo it enlarges to a black box with a large white circle in it...doesn't matter which photo I click on the end result is the same...black box with a white circle.

Hello michelefox17
It's sounds like you may need to rebuild your iPhoto Library. The article below has the steps on how do that.
iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2638
If your issues persist then you may want to contact Apple Support
Contact Apple Support
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
Hope that help,
-Griff W.

Sounds interrupting i-Tunes? Black Boxes, shadows or highlights

I am trying to listen to i-tunes but the annoying beeps and weird sounds keep interrupting my music or podcasts. How do I turn this off without turning off all of my sound?
I also have an issue with black boxes showing up on my screen. It seems like it is a shadow of a box that was open before, different window or a black box around highlighted objects. I hope that makes sense but how do I quit that from happening????? Its annoying.
Thanks for any help with this.

If Niel's suggestion doesn't set things straight, and the computer is the one in your profile, consider reposting in the PowerMac G5 forums here:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=108
You're currently in an area for computers older than the G5.

I'm suddenly seeing 2-point black boxes around any desktop icon I highlight, and around various elements in any window I'm working in. I have a G5 PPC iMac running 10.4.11. Neither restarting the machine nor running Mac Warrior has helped.

I'm suddenly seeing 2-point black boxes around any desktop icon I highlight, and around various elements in any window I'm working in. I have a G5 PPC iMac running 10.4.11. Neither restarting the machine nor running Mac Warrior has helped.

Thanks! I often inadvertently turn on the voiceover when I use the wrong keys to send an element to the back in Quark. Funny, I turned off the voiceover on my own, but never noticed that the black boxes had gone away until I saw your post.

HELP - I just downloaded the update, and now all my keynote slide shows have ugly symbols (sort of a black box with an O in the middle) wherever I clicked 'return' to go down a bullet or to edit text. It does not let me delete these marks

this is what it looks like

Interesting, Have you tried selecting the text elements and then formatting them so that they are not bulleted? And then reformatting them with a different style bullet so you can see if the black boxes come back with a different style of bullet?
I just made a few small test lists with bullets in Keynote and I have no issues.

Black box and clicking hard drive

Hi, I've had my MacBook for 6 months and today I realised there was a black line around anything I clicked or typed and if I click the apple logo on the top right I get two shut down options and two restart options, the shut down and restart options differentiate because one has 3 full stops afterwards and one does not, but I only have one sleep option, also I noticed the hard drive making a clickng noise every few seconds but now I can't hear it. Can someone help me?

Also if somebody could recommend an application which I can take a video of the computer with, I could explain it much more easily

Highlighted black box !!!!!

I get now on Leopard, black box round specific field area I am using and also have suddenly got Restart twice,shut down and log out twice on Apple menu......
Can anyone help on this

kind of funny, i found i had this "problem" with the black boxes this morning and had no idea what it was until i found this thread.
how did voiceover mysteriously turn on in the middle of the night?
my cat loves to walk across the keyboard. i've got hair stuck in between the keys to prove it.

Black boxes appear instead of figures

Hello,
I am having a problem reading downloaded pdfs in Acrobat X Pro (on a PC): in many figures (or in random places on the page), black boxes will appear instead of graphs/tables/figures (or one column or another). If I open the pdf in my browser I don't have a problem.
I think it may be connected to a related problem in which highlighted text was appearing as completely blacked out--that I managed to fix by changing the transparency of my highlight. Perhaps it's something to do with my color management?
I have installed updates and repaired my installation of Acrobat.

Hi ajanela,
Are the black boxes only where you'd expect to see images? If so, please choose Edit > Preferences, and click the Page Display category. Then, look in the Page Content and Information section, and make sure that Show Large Images is selected. If this preference is deselected, then Acrobat will show only black boxes in place of images.
Please let us know how it goes.
Best,
Sara

Red box Highlighting the entire work area of the Block diagram

I have a thin red box highlighting the entire work are of the block diagram...I've checked for breakpoints but dont see any. I run the code and after completion the entire work area turns black for a couple seconds and then the red box flashes and the continue button on the tool bar is hightlighted. Any assistance would be great
tks

This is indeed a breakpoint.
You should be able to clear it by selecting your breakpoint tool from the tools palette and clicking outside of your main code area.
When your breakpoint tool is going to set a breakpoint, the tool is filled in with black. When is is going to clear a breakpoint, it is not filled.
You can also search for breakpoints from the Edit menu Find function. Click the Select Object icon goto Others and select Breakpoint. This will find all your breakpoints. Sometimes they get set by mistake and you don't know it.
Ed
Ed Dickens - Certified LabVIEW Architect - DISTek Integration, Inc. - NI Certified Alliance Partner
Using the Abort button to stop your VI is like using a tree to stop your car. It works, but there may be consequences.

Black box highlighting everywhere I click

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for