Close "x" buttons hard to press

[pgiguere1]

Since around 2 weeks, the close buttons of OS X windows and tabs are very hard to press.

The issue is that clicking them will often do nothing until I move the window. The cursor hover will trigger the button to change visually which indicates the button is active, yet clicks are not registered until I move the app window (even if only by 1px) and click again. Only then the window will actually close.

I have this issue with both my trackpad and external mouse. It only seems to affect close buttons (both the red close buttons of all apps and Safari/Finder tabs close buttons).

I haven't installed new mouse-related or Finder-related software recently.

Anybody have the same issue or have an idea of how to fix it?

 

[bobdamnit]

I have the same issue with 10.9.2. The Close button shows the "X" like it should when you hover your pointer over it, however it doesn't register that I clicked close. Sometimes moving the mouse away from the button and then trying again will close the window, but most often it does not. Only moving the window will make it work.

I've also noticed that Safari does the same thing when trying to close tabs. Chrome does it when trying to open new tabs or close tabs.

Its gotten to the point that I just use Command+W to close windows and tabs and Command+T to open new tabs.

 

[pgiguere1]

I have the same issue with 10.9.2. The Close button shows the "X" like it should when you hover your pointer over it, however it doesn't register that I clicked close. Sometimes moving the mouse away from the button and then trying again will close the window, but most often it does not. Only moving the window will make it work.

I've also noticed that Safari does the same thing when trying to close tabs. Chrome does it when trying to open new tabs or close tabs.

Its gotten to the point that I just use Command+W to close windows and tabs and Command+T to open new tabs.

Arg, I still can't find the solution to this issue. I tried repairing my boot disk and its permissions, did a bunch of cleanups in OnyX, and tried disabling all apps that can "control my computer" (formerly "access for assistive devices"), to no avail.

Out of curiosity, what software do you have to "customize" OS X?
Maybe we can identify a common cause.

I have: RightZoom, iStat menus, ControlPlane and Cloud.

 

[bobdamnit]

Out of curiosity, what software do you have to "customize" OS X?
Maybe we can identify a common cause.

I have: RightZoom, iStat menus, ControlPlane and Cloud.

Only Temperature Monitor, MenuMeters, and cDock. None of which you are running.

I will say that I did not see this behavior in 10.9.1, but it cropped up in 10.9.2.

 

[pgiguere1]

Only Temperature Monitor, MenuMeters, and cDock. None of which you are running.

I will say that I did not see this behavior in 10.9.1, but it cropped up in 10.9.2.

I think it started with 10.9.2 for me as well.

I also have two other weird UI-related problems since recently:

1) The bottom border of my menu bar, which should normally be a solid black single-pixel stroke, often has quickly flickering white lines in it.

2) When I attempt to drag-and-drop a Finder tab, the tab thumbnail that follows your cursor and normally disappears when you never successfully drop doesn't go away. Never. This is 100% reproductible for me.

Both those issues won't go away either and I'm wondering if they're not related to my third issue. Do you have any of those?

My two other UI-related problems:

The only way to make the Finder tab thumbnail get out of my way is to kill Finder or reboot. I can have more than one too, they add up over time. It ends up looking like this if I never kill Finder:

I have found other people with the Finder tab issue. This is apparently a bug reported since the first Mavericks betas and Apple seem to do nothing about it. Creating a new user account and migrating all data apparently solves it.

Maybe that's what we'll have to do to fix the x button thing as well. So much for "Macs don't need formatting".

 

[bobdamnit]

I think it started with 10.9.2 for me as well.

I also have two other weird UI-related problems since recently:

1) The bottom border of my menu bar, which should normally be a solid black single-pixel stroke, often has quickly flickering white lines in it.

2) When I attempt to drag-and-drop a Finder tab, the tab thumbnail that follows your cursor and normally disappears when you never successfully drop doesn't go away. Never. This is 100% reproductible for me.

Both those issues won't go away either and I'm wondering if they're not related to my third issue. Do you have any of those?

I'm not sure which background you have, but it looks like your Finder menu bar isn't transparent, which would mean that QE/CI aren't working properly. You can check by opening DVD Player and selecting the Help menu and then selecting "Show supported features". If you see Core Image listed, then everything is working properly. Of course, if you have a white or grey desktop background, that would also make it look like the Finder menu bar isn't transparent also and would make checking a moot point lol.

I've never seen the Finder menu bar do that pixel thing, so I'm going to say that I don't have that problem.

And, I tried for about an hour this morning to reproduce your Finder tab issue, but I could not make my machine do it.

Which Mac do you have? Could you possibly be experiencing a failing graphics card? And if so, is it replaceable? I know some of the 2011 MacBook Pro's (Mine) are experiencing failing graphics cards, so I've always been a little careful with it and try not to overwork it. (I've got a hackintosh for all that lol)

 

[pgiguere1]

I'm not sure which background you have, but it looks like your Finder menu bar isn't transparent, which would mean that QE/CI aren't working properly. You can check by opening DVD Player and selecting the Help menu and then selecting "Show supported features". If you see Core Image listed, then everything is working properly. Of course, if you have a white or grey desktop background, that would also make it look like the Finder menu bar isn't transparent also and would make checking a moot point lol.

I've never seen the Finder menu bar do that pixel thing, so I'm going to say that I don't have that problem.

And, I tried for about an hour this morning to reproduce your Finder tab issue, but I could not make my machine do it.

Which Mac do you have? Could you possibly be experiencing a failing graphics card? And if so, is it replaceable? I know some of the 2011 MacBook Pro's (Mine) are experiencing failing graphics cards, so I've always been a little careful with it and try not to overwork it. (I've got a hackintosh for all that lol)

The transparency thing is normal, it's a setting in System Preferences (Desktop & Screen saver -> Translucent menu bar). Perhaps the problem is only present with non-transparent menubars (which little people seem to have) which would explain why the bug hasn't been noticed.

My Mac is a Mid-2012 15" rMBP (GT 650M). Graphics otherwise seem to be ok. I often game with it without any problem.

Thanks a lot for your help by the way!

Edit: Actually I lied about the no problem while gaming thing. I had this issue once. The text you see instead of the ground shader was from my two Safari tabs open at the time (an article on The Verge and some computer case specs). Looks like the GPU didn't clear its memory properly! It only happened once a couple months ago though, so I figured it's not a problem.

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

Strange. I don't have any issues with the red x/close button, as well as the other "traffic light" buttons. Works flawlessly. No flicker on my menu bar that I've noticed, and my menu bar is set to be non-translucent.

I do notice the strange 'leftover' mini-windows in Finder, though, occasionally. It's been there since 10.9 DP1. Annoying as heck, and a bit hard to believe Apple hasn't fixed it by now.

 

[bobdamnit]

Then I'm not exactly sure whats going on. I switched on the non-transparent menu bar and so far I haven't seen the odd white/black flickering, but I'll leave it non-transparent for a few days and see what happens.

Your machine definitely isn't one of the ones that were having graphics problems though, so that's a good thing.

What I find odd is that my MBP has the "close button is hard to push" problem, but my hackintosh does not. Both have the Intel HD 3000 and run an i5 @ 2.4Ghz. They are very similar specced machines. Both are running 10.9.2, although I'm thinking of running the Apple Beta Seed of 10.9.3 just to see if the problem persists or goes away.

Sorry I can't be more help. I'll run the non-transparent menu bar for a while and get back to ya. I wish I could reproduce the Finder tab issue though.