MP 1,1-5,1 How to prevent the popup on Text Selection

[danallen]

Is there a way to disable the pop up window that started appearing recently when I am attempting to select text for any reason? The image below shows the problem that started when I had to roll back, from Catalina to High Sierra, thanks to the death of the SanDisk I was using for the Catalina installation. Several years ago, I got this popup disabled, but I cannot remember how I did it. The information I have found by searching has not worked.

Thank you for any help you can provide for this.

 

[ab22]

You may have trackpad or other click settings on for Look Up

Change Trackpad settings on Mac

Set point and click options, scroll and zoom options, and other gestures.

support.apple.com

 

[danallen]

You may have trackpad or other click settings on for Look Up

Change Trackpad settings on Mac

Set point and click options, scroll and zoom options, and other gestures.

support.apple.com

Thank you for such an informative and thoughtful reply. This seems to getting to the solution, but I am still ignorant of key elements.

Following link you posted let to a that says:

"Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Trackpad"

I am running High Sierra for the moment (will getting back to Catalina soon, I hope). I do not see System Settings under the Apple in the Apple menu. I see System Preferences. It looks like this:

The next information provided at the link you provided is a list of Trackpad settings, most of which I can access in System Preferences, inside Trackpad:

 

[ab22]

You have Look Up & Data Detectors un-checked ?.

 

[danallen]

You have Look Up & Data Detectors un-checked ?.

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[ab22]

Force Click = I know you mentioned it earlier, but I'm not clear on if the settings are missing or don't move, or have no effect ? .

I don't have High Sierra to view the settings, but as the earlier-referenced article says :

• Force click and haptic feedback: On a Force Touch trackpad, force click an item to take action. (To force click, press firmly until you feel a deeper click.) For example, force click a file in the Finder to show it in a Quick Look window. With the checkbox selected, you also feel tactile feedback when aligning objects in some apps, like Preview.

 

[flaubert]

Does this pop-up problem occur in any text situation on your system? On every browser? In any TextEdit document? I wonder if it could be some form of malware, masquerading as a 'helpful' data detector? You could try running Malwarebytes in free mode.

 

[danallen]

Does this pop-up problem occur in any text situation on your system? On every browser? In any TextEdit document? I wonder if it could be some form of malware, masquerading as a 'helpful' data detector? You could try running Malwarebytes in free mode.

Does this pop-up problem occur in any text situation on your system? Either yes almost yes.

On every browser? yes

In any TextEdit document? yes

I wonder if it could be some form of malware, masquerading as a 'helpful' data detector? You could try running Malwarebytes in free mode. That sounds like a good suspicion. Thank you. I will see what I can do about that.

 

[danallen]

Does this pop-up problem occur in any text situation on your system? On every browser? In any TextEdit document? I wonder if it could be some form of malware, masquerading as a 'helpful' data detector? You could try running Malwarebytes in free mode.

When I finally got Catalina installed last night, the dreadful popup disappeared. If I boot with HighSierra again, I imagine the popup still comes out of that.