Strange... Black boxes around buttons and files

Anyone seen this issue or know how to fix it?
Sometime last week, black boxes started appearaing around files or folders on my desktop, buttons in the finder, and file names in open windows. It is always one box at a time (whatever I select or mouse over.)
The box is 2-3 pixels thick and has a white stroke around it. It's not effecting performance, but it is really anoying.
Thanks in advance!

Ugh, sounds like your video card may be going.
If you create a new, clean & fresh account and log in, do you get the same thing?

Similar Messages

  • 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 !)

  • Black border around buttons and boxes

      My browser displays a thick black rectangle around buttons and dropboxes. It affects webkit browsers, luakit and surf. This is a stripped down atom desktop. There is gtk 2 2.24, libwebkit 1.8.3, standard xorg, xf86-video-intel 2.20.5 (i915), and cairo, all from the arch repo, and linux-ck-atom 3.5.3 from AUR. I have cairo but no mesa and no compiz. Adding mesa doesn't fix it. But it's possible I removed some important graphic library. Any suggestions how I might fix it?
    Last edited by skeerly (2012-09-02 00:28:22)

    Thanks for the suggestions. The accelerators don't make a difference, neither does today's new intel driver. I've had the same version of cairo since June (1.12.2-1 -> 1.12.2-2) and this problem is recent. As a last resort I'll try to find an old cairo package. But maybe I should look into libwebkit or gtk first.

  • Strange Black Box around every prompt I am given...

    This is very strange. I started up iChat for the first time on MBP and am now having a very strange occurance. At every prompt there is a strange black box around it. For example, right now there is a black box around the back arrow in my safari browser. When I open the finder there is a black box around my hard drive. I just opened system preferences and there is a black box around the back arrow in system preferences box...
    Can anybody help me?
    MacBook Pro 2GHz, PowerBook G4, PowerMac G4   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  

    heheh ya it's funny when you look at the people who just hear the mac talking and they don't know wat to do.. but ya.. universal access is only for that.. for the F8 key is exposè, which is nothing related to Universal Access at all, so you can keep Universal Access options off and exposè will still running
    Anyway, you can configure both from the System Preferences.

  • My ipad displays a black box around icons and isn't scrolling properly. I have turned it off then back on, which is the extent of my limited knowledge.

    I was trying to get it to airprint to my supposedly supported HP eprint printer, but was having no luck. After trying to follow the online instructions on the HP website, it told me to turn it off wait 30 secs then turn it back on(along with the other devices but thats not my issue now) When I turned it back on it has a black box around all icons, I have to "double click" to get anything to open, and is not scrolling properly. I have turned it off and back on again, no change.

    i am expereincing this problem....what was the solution??

  • Black Rectangle Outlined Boxes Around Icons and File Names

    I'm all of a sudden getting these boxes around file names and icons when I click on them. Anyone else get this?

    Open the Universal Access pane of System Preferences, click on the Seeing tab, and turn off VoiceOver.
    (31469)

  • IPhone 4 has a black box around an app when you touch it.  It won't allow you to swipe to the bottom of the settings feature to reset factory settings

    Please help with this.  There is a box in the upper right corner that has 3 circles inside it.  It is gray and white until you touch it then it gets black.  I can't swipe the screen in any direction.  When I touch an app it gets a black box around it, and I have to Double tap in a different are to open the app.  Suggestions?

    Tripple click the home button to turn off switch control.  Then:
    Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Contol > OFF

  • I have these black boxes surrounding things, e.g., there is a black box around the red "close" button on the upper left corner of this page.  There is also an oblong black box

    Hi - I'm not only having trouble waking up my MBP from sleep and having to restart repeatedly which is a pain in itself, but now when it restarted, I have these black boxes surrounding things, e.g., there is a black box around the red "close" button on the upper left corner of this page.  There is also an oblong resizable black box sitting on top of anything.  The content changes depending on the actions I take.  Right now it says, "You are currently on a close button.  To click this button, which closes the current window, press Control-Option-Space."  Right now I'm open in Firefox, but it doesn't matter if only Finder is open, it's still there.  I've tried closing all my applications and restarting and I also reset the PRAM.  It won't go away.  It's probably something simple, but I don't know how to get rid of it.  Any suggestions are welcome.
    Thanks,
    Janet

    Thanks so much.  I saw this on "desktop strangeness" immediately after I posted and tried to retract my question.  It worked perfectly.  I'm not sure how VoiceOver got turned on unless something happened when I was trying to wake up the computer.  I open the lid and it flashes whatever is open and then the screen goes black and I can't wake it up.  Still looking for the resolution to this.

  • 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.

  • I have these black boxes around all the images i add. why are they there and how do i get rid of them?

    i have black boxes around all the images i bring into pages. why are they there and how can i get rid of them?

    Pages rememebers the last setting you used on images.
    So if you had a border on the last image the next one you bring in will have one too.
    To change that select:
    Inspector > Graphic > Stroke > None
    Spend a little time exploring the menus and particularly the Toolbar and Inspectors whcih are in reasonably logical progression from big things down to smaller details and clearly labeled.
    It is also possible that you have show Layout on which outlines objects on th screen so you can see what's what. To change that:
    Menu > View > Hide Layout
    Peter

  • My ipod is acting so strange? boxes around everything? and wifi doesnt work.

    Hi
    Well this morning I turned on my ipod and my internet wasn't connecting so I went to settings >> wi-fi >> and it was off, so I tried turning it on with the off/on slider and when it went to on , the box that comes up to select a network didnt appear. I tried again and it still wouldnt. It isn't on airplane mode either :\
    How do I fix this?
    After that I went to General in Settings and I probably clicked something I shouldnt have, now EVERYTHING I tap comes up with a box around it and I have to double app to select things and it is REALLY annoying! I tried going back to General but now I have this stupid box thing I can't scroll down to fix it
    What should I do? I wanted to email Apple but I can't find how to.. is it just calling them these days?
    Thankyou very much in advance

    It appears that you have VoiceOver or anothr accessibilty feature turned on. Turn them off by:
    iPhone: Configuring accessibility features (including VoiceOver and Zoom)
    For the wifi problem try:
    iOS: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections

  • I have these black boxes around my active pages, but I have voice-over disabled, any help?

    I have these black boxes around my active pages, I looked online for pointers but they all pointed to me disabling my voice-over in the universal access option on system preferences. My voice-over wasn't enabled and the boxes are still here, any help?

    Please read this whole message before doing anything.
    This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
    Step 1
    The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
    Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. For instructions, launch the System Preferences application, select Help from the menu bar, and enter “Set up a guest account” (without the quotes) in the search box.
    While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your personal files or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
    Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem(s)?
    After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
    *Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault in Mac OS X 10.7 or later, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The Guest login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
    Step 2
    The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login.
    Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode* and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
    Be sure your Mac is shut down.
    Press the power button.
    Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
    Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
    Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
    The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
    *Note: If FileVault is enabled under Mac OS X 10.7 or later, you can’t boot in safe mode.
    Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
    After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of steps 1 and 2.

  • Black box (line) surrounds and follows mouse, 'mini' screen size, PIP?

    Hi,
    I just tried to install the new wireless mighty mouse and wireless apple keyboard.
    The mouse worked for a minute, but the install of the keyboard killed the BT mouse and now there's this ANNOYING black box around the mouse cursor.
    After playing with it I've noticed that the pointer cursor, which is surrounded by this box (4:3 ratio box, approx 2" wide by 1.5" tall on my 20" 1600x1200 monitor).
    The odd thing is the cursor's position within this box moves in correlation with where on my overall desktop the cursor is placed: If I put my cursor in the upper right corner of my whole screen, the mouse cursor is also in the upper right corner of the small 'box'; if I move it to the lower left of the screen, it is also in the lower left of the box, and so on for the other two corners, and if it's in the middle of the screen, it's in the middel of the little black box.
    So this seems very strange.
    Oh, and neither the BT keyboards or the new mighty mouse BT will show up in the BT menu as recognized devices, though they did just briefly in the beginning.
    So after buying a new USB hub to be able to plug in the Apple/Belkin USB hub along with the Apple store's D-Link USB Bluetooth adapter and a new BT keyboard and mouse - $200 for a wireless keyboard and mouse, all I have is ultra annoying new software problems and all the same wires as before, with an additional keyboard and mouse on my desk. UGH!!!
    Can anyone help with this 'black box around the keyboard issue, at least?
    Thank you soo, so much for any solutions!
    Sarge
    Oh and this weren't enough my barely used video ipod video 60 GB self-distructed this AM - melted inside somehow. I am in Apple ****.

    GREEN STAR FOR YOU!
    Of all the things - somehow, and I've never even been into this control panel, inside the Universal Access/Seeing/Options dialogue, the box was checked saying "Show preview rectangle when zoomed out".
    I unchecked this, and it went away. I had not selected this, ever. How it happened, I don't know except that I do have a Logitech NuLOOQ tooldial device which I had unplugged from USB while troubleshooting my BT wireless keyboard and mouse, and this device requires having the 'enable access for assistive devices' checked in the Universal Access control panel.
    Perhaps unplugging that device somehow lead to this problem, but otherwise I've never 'visited' the UA pref panel or checked anything in it.
    Odd, but THANK YOU for the suggestion!!!
    Sarge

  • Strange black box

    A week ago, with no real specific event that I can remember that triggered it, my G4 computer OS 10.4.10 started to act weird. In all my programs, a black box started to show up.  For example, right now I am typing in Apple Mail.  the body copy box is rimmed all the way around with a thin black line.  If I go to the desktop, and click on a folder, it will have a black box around it.  If I open up a Word doc, there is a long vertical black box around the scrolling bar on the right.  On and on.
    Also, iTunes is strange in that I can be listening to an online radio like KCRW, and each time I click on an application, the computer voice starts talking.  I.E if I starting typing right now, the voice is enunciating the individual letters.  If I click on  the Word doc I mentioned, the voice will say the name of the Word doc, then say "window scroll bar." Anyone have any thoughts on what is happening?

    Thanks Malcolm. That did it. I didn't even know about that feature, or how I managed to turn it on. Much appreciated.

  • Black box around window screenshots?

    Hi guys,
    I'm using 10.6.2 SL and whenever I take a screenshot of a window with Shift Apple 4 Space, I get this ugly black box around the window.
    Here is an example.
    Before, the screenshot would have a nice shadow. It used to look like this.
    Was this intentional? Or is this a glitch?
    Thanks
    Sohrob

    That behavior's abnormal. Start with a search for *screenshot black border* and peruse the hits. If no luck, create a new admin user account, log into it, and see if the problem persists.

Maybe you are looking for