New
#21
Then I guess we'll all have to petition Microsoft to remove it :)
Dotted Border Help
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Posts : 1,210 Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (XP, 98SE, 95, 3.11, DOS 7.10 on VM) + Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx
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New #22
Sorry guys, I'm pretty sure this has been reported as a bug. In Win 7, it's suppose to be showing a translucent rectangular highlight of the icon, not a dotted border as in the days of 95, 98 etc. Something triggers it every now and then to revert back to the dotted border which is the bug. A reboot will get it back to the proper highlight until it happens again.
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New #23
Well i doubt its a bug and if it is i want them to release a patch to fix it
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New #24
The solution is very simple. You go into "Control Panel", then "Ease of access centre" (or "Center" as Americans prefer to misspell it...) Anyway... Click on "Make the keyboard easier to use" and then UNTICK the option "Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys". Yes I know what your thinking: "No THAT's not what I'm talking about..." And yes, it is... try it... Then refresh your desktop a couple of times with F5.
No more nasty dotted borders. Just the nice clean Aero style one.
And the rest of you... Windows 7 professionals?... Phffff.....
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New #26
Yes I was only kidding, I've needed this site more than once. But that WAS an easy one, lol. (and I did sign up JUST to help the guy).
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New #27
My friend, that is a focus rectangle... You'll see them all over the place in Windows. What they do is indicate where your keyboard will send characters as you type. On the desktop they tell you what icon will be activated if you hit enter.
These are not an annoyance, they are a healthy and beneficial part of operating your computer.
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New #28
Not on Windows 7 Aero theme they're not. They're replaced with the Aero style "clean", "lined" border. Not a Windows 3.1 dotted border, lol. It looks silly having the nice translucent filled box around an icon and then a dotted rectangle inside that as well. They have no place in Windows 7. They shouldn't be activated and they're not when Windows 7 is first installed. I don't know what activates these, probably pen tablet settings or messing around with the mouse or accessibility options. I only know about this because I work for Careers Advice as I.T Support and have set up computers for disabled users and noticed it was a useless ugly option. It's not even useful for disabled people.
Here's what your missing:
Looks a bit better than your box (don't you think?).
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New #29
I agree and that is the total mis-understanding of this dotted border situation. Alot of users are using classic style or Vista Basic which I think do use the old style dotted box focus rectangle. When said users on non Aero theme see dotted box described as being a bug/problem, they naturally assume that the dotted box is a normal theme element and it isn't for someone using the Aero theme. Your screenshot shows the normal focus rectangle for the Aero theme. A certain combination of keystrokes/refreshes etc.. will revert an Aero theme temporarily back to the old dotted focus rectangle. I can easily reproduce this, I have a desktop context menu command of Select All. I can run Select All to select all the icons/folders on my desktop and after all are selected, I can click anywhere on the desktop and get the bugged dotted rectangle.
Refresh, as some suggest, will not make it go away. Up until now, Re-boot is the only way. I said up until now because MoRbIdBoY's way of curing it may work, I haven't tried it.
And again, below is the normal focus rectangle for Aero theme users which is not a dotted border focus rectangle
I know that windows UI uses dotted focus rectangles in other areas but not on the Desktop running Aero theme.Last edited by Greg S; 12 Apr 2010 at 17:19. Reason: One last statement
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New #30
I agree and that is the total mis-understanding of this dotted border situation. Alot of users are using classic style or Vista Basic which I think do use the old style dotted box focus rectangle. When said users on non Aero theme see dotted box described as being a bug/problem, they naturally assume that the dotted box is a normal theme element and it isn't for someone using the Aero theme. Your screenshot shows the normal focus rectangle for the Aero theme. A certain combination of keystrokes/refreshes etc.. will revert an Aero theme temporarily back to the old dotted focus rectangle. I can easily reproduce this, I have a desktop context menu command of Select All. I can run Select All to select all the icons/folders on my desktop and after all are selected, I can click anywhere on the desktop and get the bugged dotted rectangle.
Refresh, as some suggest, will not make it go away. Up until now, Re-boot is the only way. I said up until now because MoRbIdBoY's way of curing it may work, I haven't tried it.
And again, below is the normal focus rectangle for Aero theme users which is not a dotted border focus rectangle
Ok... I see where this is going left on us...
There are two focus mechanisms at work ... Mouse (the nice milky square) and Keyboard (the dreaded dotted rectangle).... Simply pointing your mouse at the icon gets you the square. HOWEVER... when you click on the open desktop and type anything on the keyboard it gains keyboard focus as well... now you get the dotted square.
This is NOT a bug... it is telling you what's going to happen if you hit Enter on your keyboard...This is visual feedback to the user and it is --like I said before-- a helpful and essential part of using your computer.
Really... you do realize that you can run windows without a mouse... don't you?
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