small white spots

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Is there any reason for the small white squares and dashes in the green headers on some of the posts. Some flash on and off and others are there all the time. Has any one else noticed this or is it just me?

I am using Firefox on a Linux Ubuntu machine.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Not seen them myself W10 & Chrome

Can you post a link or name a thread with the issue or post a screen shot

Any add blockers being used?

 

Edited By JasonB on 25/08/2021 10:09:06

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Nothing apparent using Firefox 91.0.1 on Linux Mint.

John

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

All looks clean on my iPad

MichaelG.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I've not seen any, W10 – MS Edge.

Regards Nick.

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Must be me. I've got everything set to "strict" security settings. I have just taken a screen shot and they are not visible on that, although they are still there when I view normally.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Just for the sake of curiosity … Could you take a photograph of your screen, so that we know what we’re missing.

MichaelG.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

probably the farcebook tracker as for non-javascript a 1pixel invisible element is loaded – javascrpt enabled get to load a special bit of code thus probably it is a 1 pixel non visible image that would be probably be blocked by Firefox on its anti tracking settings.

Quite why this tracker is on the site is not clear other that the site owners get paid for reducing users’ privacy.

Edited By Frances IoM on 25/08/2021 17:27:40

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Hi Michael. Why didn't I think of that. Anyway here it is. Apologies for photo quality.

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

As an experiment, I tried switching the enhanced tracking protection OFF for this site and it did not appear to make any difference. It's back on now.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks, Anthony

… No, I’ve never seen that

MichaelG.

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Do they scroll with the bars, or stay put in the same place on the screen? If the latter you may have interference on the video cable, or possibly a display going bad. You would probably not notice them on a white background.

The screenshot would grab the pixels that are supposed to be there, rather than what you are actually seeing – hence the fact that they no-show on the screenshot.

If you can arrange a completely black image in a window (something like Paint should allow you to create one) then move it around the screen – that should show up any bad pixels.

Edited By Peter Cook 6 on 25/08/2021 19:14:59

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

You can try running a colour screen test program to see if there is any problem with your pixels.

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Hi all. The white pixels actually scroll with the green bars so it's not a faulty screen. I will have to boot the windows 10 partition and see what happens with that.

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Writing this from windows 10 using firefox on the same computer and there is no sign of the white pixels. Possibly need to re install ubuntu?

From a puzzled Anthony

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Frances IoM on 25/08/2021 17:27:04:
probably the farcebook tracker as for non-javascript a 1pixel invisible element is loaded – javascrpt enabled get to load a special bit of code […]

.

Having only a very slight understanding of these things, I looked for a simple summary and found this: **LINK**

What is a Tracking Pixel—Explained in 800 Words or Less

MichaelG.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Anthony Knights on 26/08/2021 08:35:02:

Writing this from windows 10 using firefox on the same computer and there is no sign of the white pixels. Possibly need to re install ubuntu?

From a puzzled Anthony

I'm using Firefox on Ubuntu 18.04, and 21.04 without white spots.

Before reinstalling the whole of Ubuntu I'd remove and reinstall Firefox: could be Firefox is corrupt.

Hold down Ctrl, Alt and hit 'T' to get a terminal.

In the terminal, at the $ prompt, type:

sudo apt-get remove firefox

Hit return, enter password, and a stream of removal messages should be displayed. When finished, type:

sudo apt-get update

This makes sure your computer is synchronised with Ubuntu's internet software repositories. Then, type:

sudo apt-get install firefox

Although rebooting isn't necessary, it does clear everything out, so worth doing whenever corruption is suspected. Cross fingers. restart the system. then and test the Green Banners.

Postscript: there is a more nuclear version of the remove command. remove doesn't delete user configuration settings, cookies etc. If you don't care about them, replace:

sudo apt-get remove firefox

with

sudo apt-get purge firefox

Good luck

Dave

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Hi there Dave. Just tried removing and then re installing Firefox as per your instructions, but the little swines are till there. I am still learning about Linux command line and actually have the terminal icon in my favourites list. Are you or anyone else able to recommend a suitable book to learn more from.

Thanks Anthony

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

My go to reference is:

"Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible", by Blum.

Russell

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

Thanks Russell

Anthony

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