# Firefox glitch? What's up with this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817 "2009-04-30T04:33:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/1 "2009-04-30T04:33:04Z")
Last night, I was typing an address into Firefox, and I looked up to see that it was typed exactly backwards, like: moc.elgoog.www Now, I’m not dyslexic. I haven’t had a stroke. I typed it correctly the first time. Anybody ever had this happen? I just completed a virus scan, and two malware scans (Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D). Am I being pranked? The only thing I’ve found on the net is this Youtube vid: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/t8RxeD6vfkI/hqdefault.jpg "Backwards typing www.google.com to the Mozilla Firefox") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8RxeD6vfkI) Anybody got the straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/2 "2009-04-30T04:47:21Z")
.em rof enif skroW ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/3 "2009-04-30T04:53:11Z")
Is it possible that your left arrow key got either stuck down or leaned on? That would cause the cursor to keep jumping to the front of the line. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/4 "2009-04-30T04:54:22Z")
No, my arrow appears to work perfectly, and I don’t lean on it while typing. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/5 "2009-04-30T05:08:58Z")
Which version of Firefox? The current version, 3.0.10 was just released. It came out earlier than expected because 3.0.9 had stability issues. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/6 "2009-04-30T05:14:57Z")
3.0.10 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/7 "2009-04-30T05:21:31Z")
What happened after that? Did everything return to normal with having to do anything? It didn’t happen again, or in another program? My first guess is you somehow switched to Arabic or Hebrew and so type goes right-to-left. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/8 "2009-04-30T05:29:50Z")
?tahw woN .us ot no s’eH .nam hO iaznaB oorakcuB ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/9 "2009-04-30T05:31:14Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > What happened after that? Did everything return to normal with having to do anything? It didn’t happen again, or in another program? > > My first guess is you somehow switched to Arabic or Hebrew and so type goes right-to-left. I went “WTF?”, and retyped it. It went through fine the second time. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/10 "2009-04-30T06:37:06Z")
Same thing happened to me the other day. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/11 "2009-04-30T11:39:25Z")
> [@](#): > > **Java applet causes backwards or jumbled typing in text boxes** > > Sometimes running a Java applet during the browser session can cause the cursor to behave erratically when you type in a text field, so that your text will display backwards or jumbled. Additionally, you may not be able to copy text to the clipboard. If you are having these problems, exit the browser and [end its process](http://kb.mozillazine.org/Kill_application) if necessary ([see above](http://kb.mozillazine.org/Java#Java_applet_causes_browser_process_to_remain_in_memory_after_exiting_the_browser)) then restart your Mozilla application. > **[Java - MozillaZine Knowledge Base](http://kb.mozillazine.org/Java)** ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/12 "2009-04-30T13:19:19Z")
You’ve hit the shortcut for Right-To-Left mode in Firefox. I don’t know what it is off hand, but it’s there. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/13 "2009-04-30T13:20:57Z")
Ctrl + Shift + X in a textbox. Try it. Actually, this isn’t what you’re talking about. It’s useful to know anyway though. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/14 "2009-05-03T01:04:52Z")
Weird. Sidenote: I use backwards Google all the time in teaching Internet research (as trivia mainly to keep the attention of the students, but it does keep their interest). For those who don’t know it began as a novelty but proved surprisingly practical use in skipping merrily past filters in some places, until most filters started banning backwards google. It has a lot of mirror sites, and since google has that “did you mean Engelbert Humperdink?” feature if you accidentally search for Bernatel Dingyhump", some will ask "did you mean _here_ (where here is an elgoog) if you misspell google in certain ways. And of the course the Internet Jews LOVE to redirect you. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/15 "2009-05-03T01:14:57Z")
Internet Jews? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/16 "2009-05-03T03:04:21Z")
That started out as a completely normal post… ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/17 "2009-05-03T03:24:33Z")
I’ve had that problem a few times at the office, usually versions in the 3.0.x region, and only after having it open for quite some time. It also doesn’t type _perfectly_ backwards, at least it didn’t for me if I typed fast vs. slow. Could have been that java bug, dunno. Restarting always fixed it for me. ---
**Author:** ![goddessodd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@goddessodd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goddessodd)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/18 "2009-05-03T03:55:26Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Internet Jews? 😕 Thank heavens, I was afraid everyone else knew what “Internet Jews” is about, and that it is just ANOTHER example of how pathetically unhip I have become in my bat-hood. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/19 "2009-05-03T04:00:57Z")
Has happened to me at work a few times. Only thing I can do it to close out of Firefox, use the task manager to kill the extra version that remains running, and start over. ---
**Author:** ![Floppy\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3bc359/32.png) [@Floppy\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floppy_Joe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817/20 "2009-05-03T06:59:02Z")
Hmm. I’m going to make a broad assumption and say that you’re a user of Facebook. And being a user of Facebook, you probably also participate in those “What is your Elf name?” or “Which Disney character are you?” kind of apps. Am I wrong? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-glitch-whats-up-with-this/494817.md?page=2)