I seem to be experiencing a new behavior in my web browser lately ( ~ 2 months perhaps less). I’m in the habit of opening links with a right-click and selecting open in a new tab, especially if I’m initially working from a page with a lot of links (such as a SDMB “New Posts” page). I do that on Facebook as well.
Lately I’m noticing that when I open a Facebook post in a tab, I will later find that not only the one copy has opened but a separate tab containing the graphic (meme, photo, whatever) blown up to full-screen with the comments showing on the right hand side. I’ll close that (having already read the comments in the non-maximized view) and often find another copy right behind it in yet another browser tab.
There’s another unrelated web site I go to that uses thumbnails instead of text listings of available posts — kind of Instagram-ish I guess – and in addition to the ones I open, I’ll find that several of them that I did not right-click have also opened themselves for my viewing pleasure.
The overall effect / impression is that my web browser thinks I am clicking on things when I haven’t, perhaps just by hovering momentarily over them.
a) Malware? Seems unlikely — I’m not getting tabs that open to unrelated sites. My clicks aren’t being redirected very far, just to other links on the same pg
b) The Brave browser has built-in ad blockers and I also have some installed widgets, although not a huge horde of them. Something in my browser’s ad-blocker or one of those plug-ins misbehaving, you think?
c) Some MacOS “gesture” got enabled and when I wiggle the arrow cursor in just the right way it’s interpreting it as “open this link in a new tab”? I looked but didn’t find any such setting…
d) Problem exists between keyboard and chair? User senility? Forgot what I clicked on or forgot how to use a computer? Anything’s possible but it seems like a recent and abrupt change. And I haven’t gotten any worse about forgetting where I laid my keys or my reading glasses, although admittedly it’s a low bar.