Problem: Tool pointer turns back to default Microsoft Windows pointer

VJ
Posted By
Vincent_Jacquemin
Mar 5, 2004
Views
568
Replies
8
Status
Closed
I have had a problem with Photoshop CS ever since I’ve installed it. Here’s the description (to the best of my knowledge):

Sometimes when I direct my mouse pointer out of the picture I’m working on, and I click (in the main toolbar, or the layer window, or any other toolbar or window), and I return the mouse pointer to my picture, it changes form the selected tool pointer to the default Microsoft Windows pointer. From then on, I can’t modify my picture by clicking on it anymore (paint, manual crop, smudge, etc.). Every other window in the program seems to react correctly to my mouse clicks. I can still change tools (even thought the pointer won’t change to reflect the tool switch), change layer options, and work with all File, Edit, Filters, etc. menus. The only way I found to get back control of my picture is to save it, close Photoshop CS, and restart it.

It is not a show stopper, but it happens fairly frequently (about every 20/30 minutes), and it’s just fairly frustrating. I guess I’ve just been used to work with bug free software when I buy from Adobe (I’ve been a Photoshop user since version 4.0, and I’ve never encountered any problem in any of the versions since then, save for CS).

My system specifications are as follows:
PC running Windows XP Home edition
Pentium 4 processor 2.0 GHz
GeForce 4 5200 128 MB
768 MB of RAM
111 GB of scratch disk

I have reinstalled Photoshop a couple of times, and tried to reproduce the problem with bigger and smaller files. It seems to happen with both small and big files (from 1 layer 1024*768 JPEG files, to 20+ layer, 5 MegaPixels files).

I was just wonderng if this problem has already been reported, and if maybe a patch or workaround has been issued. I could not find an answer on the Adobe website. (obviously, I would like to consider every possible option rather than reformatting my hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch)
Related Tags
back default pointer problem tool turn windows

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

DM
dave_milbut
Mar 5, 2004
do you have something like tweakui where you can "stop applications from stealing focus"? some other app might be popping up a dialog you’re not getting to see because of that.

one other possibility is that you’re missing a dialog box. try resetting your prefrences per the faq.
W
wes
Mar 5, 2004
Vincent, this happens to me on occasions also and what I do is just click somewhere on the image and the PS pointer will come back. I have tweak UI set to "Prevent applications from stealing focus" and it still seems to crop up. This is very rare in my case however. I have done what Dave has suggested but it will still crop up from time to time. Again I just click somewhere in the image. To me this means that focus was probably taken away by something in the background but I have no idea what since nothing shows up in the task bar when this happens.

wrote in message
I have had a problem with Photoshop CS ever since I’ve installed it.
Here’s the description (to the best of my knowledge):
Sometimes when I direct my mouse pointer out of the picture I’m working
on, and I click (in the main toolbar, or the layer window, or any other toolbar or window), and I return the mouse pointer to my picture, it changes form the selected tool pointer to the default Microsoft Windows pointer. From then on, I can’t modify my picture by clicking on it anymore (paint, manual crop, smudge, etc.). Every other window in the program seems to react correctly to my mouse clicks. I can still change tools (even thought the pointer won’t change to reflect the tool switch), change layer options, and work with all File, Edit, Filters, etc. menus. The only way I found to get back control of my picture is to save it, close Photoshop CS, and restart it.
It is not a show stopper, but it happens fairly frequently (about every
20/30 minutes), and it’s just fairly frustrating. I guess I’ve just been used to work with bug free software when I buy from Adobe (I’ve been a Photoshop user since version 4.0, and I’ve never encountered any problem in any of the versions since then, save for CS).
My system specifications are as follows:
PC running Windows XP Home edition
Pentium 4 processor 2.0 GHz
GeForce 4 5200 128 MB
768 MB of RAM
111 GB of scratch disk

I have reinstalled Photoshop a couple of times, and tried to reproduce the problem with bigger and smaller files. It seems to happen with both small
and big files (from 1 layer 1024*768 JPEG files, to 20+ layer, 5 MegaPixels files).
I was just wonderng if this problem has already been reported, and if
maybe a patch or workaround has been issued. I could not find an answer on the Adobe website. (obviously, I would like to consider every possible option rather than reformatting my hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch)
VJ
Vincent_Jacquemin
Mar 5, 2004
Hi Dave,

Thanks for your quick answer! I do not have tweakui installed on my machine presently, but I’m pretty sure this problem isn’t caused by other application popping up a dialog box. If it were the case, wouldn’t the dialog box still be on my screen (and then visible) when I close Photoshop? Maybe I’m missing something here…

As for resetting my preferences, I’ve done it a few times already, and it did not seem to do the trick.

Thanks for helping me try to figure that out!
SJ
Sandy_J
Mar 5, 2004
I think Dave was suggesting that tweakui was the solution, not the problem. Read about it or download here:
<http://download.com.com/3000-2341-2830963.html?tag=lst-0-5>
SJ
Sandy_J
Mar 5, 2004
oops
VJ
Vincent_Jacquemin
Mar 5, 2004
Hi Sandy,

I know he was proposing it as a solution. I was just letting him know that I did not have tweakui installed on my computer at the moment (I used to… a long, long time ago), but that I was pretty confident it would not fix the problem (for the reason stated in my first reply: wouldn’t a pop-up window from another app still be opened after I close Photoshop?). Sorry it did not come out right. It’s still early morning, and I have only had two cups of coffee. 🙂 I’ll look into tweakui this evening. How has it progressed since a year or so ago?

Thanks for the help!
SJ
Sandy_J
Mar 5, 2004
Tweak UI 1.33 was added to download.com in Sept 2000 so I doubt it’s progressed.
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Mar 6, 2004
For anyone interested, TweakUI was updated for Windows XP to version 2.0; older versions should not be used, according to Microsoft. The link for downloading only TweakUI is < http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/c/a/fca6767b-9ed9-4 5a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe>

If you are interested in other PowerToys for Windows XP, they may be found at < http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.a sp>

Regards,

Daryl

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections