Help with IE, please!

[delphica]

Please forgive the lack/misuse of any technical terms in this question. I hope this is a very obvious question with an easy answer!

The browser I use is Internet Explorer. When I am typing posts, web based email, online forms or whatever, this annoying thing keeps happening to me.

As I am typing, if I make a typo or want to change something, I hit the backspace key. Usually this has the desired effect, as it would in a word processing document. Sometimes, hitting the backspace key causes IE to go back to the previous page displayed, and I lose everything I had typed. This is especially annoying when it happens at the end of a long email. It seems to happen when the computer is in some sort of cycle, but I can't figure it out how to predict it. Even if I could predict it, I don't know if I could stop myself from automatically using the backspace key.

Is there any setting I can change to stop this from happening? It's driving me batty.

[Smeghead]

Backspace is a shortcut key for "Back." If you don't have a field highlighted and hit backspace, you'll go to the last page you were at. So if you're typing away, and accidentally click outside the field, then hit backspace, off you go. If this happens, just click on Forward again, and you'll lose nothing.

[peace]

Correction: by itself, "Back Space" is back space, highlighted text or not. It brings the previous page only if you inadvertantly simultaneously press a M$ key. Two ways to brig the page back:
1) As suggested, or
2) By going to History, arranged by View>Order Visited Today (first on the list).

[handy]

What version of IE is this? If only i could read minds.

[Starbury]

Originally posted by peace
Correction: by itself, "Back Space" is back space, highlighted text or not. It brings the previous page only if you inadvertantly simultaneously press a M$ key.

This is not true. Periodically with IE5, when the Backspace key (and no other keys) is hit inside an HTML <TEXTAREA>, it will go back one page in the history list.
I have had this happen most frequently either when typing an Email in OutLook Express (remotely) and when typing out a post in UBB.

[mouthbreather]

Originally posted by Smeghead
So if you're typing away, and accidentally click outside the field, then hit backspace, off you go. If this happens, just click on Forward again, and you'll lose nothing.

This may or may not be true, depending on your caching settings under "Temporary Internet Files". If you have "never" or "every time you start Internet Explorer" you won't lose anything. However, if you have "Every visit to the page" selected, you will lose any text you had.

[peace]

Sorry, I did not realize my mistake at the time. We are all correct and mistaken. Different protocols may "activate" the "BS" key, so it will move the page. But I believe, that as long you are in "Text Editing" (typing), the "BS" key will work as backspacer. If you click on the page, you'll be able to manipulate the page, e.g., scroll it or move it, operate links.