Command key activates wrong window in Mountain Lion
I've got some strange bug on my computer that has stumped every genius in the three Apple Stores I've been to--they even took it to the back to ask all the Genius' in the store, so it seems to be a nasty bug. so I figured maybe you all could help me out.
The issue is this: After I upgraded to Mountain Lion (from Snow Leopard) when I use my "command" key, it randomly activates a window other than the one in focus (on top) of the other windows. So, for example, if I'm in Safari and try to copy something (Cmd+C) but I also have Word open, it will switch to Word and copy whatever is in Word. It does this with all programs (even with Finder!), no matter what the Command function I'm trying to use. If I close the program, the strange behavior will stop for a short time and then come back with another program. When Cmd activates Finder, I have to relaunch Finder and that temporarily alleviates the problem. It does this odd behavior with an external keyboard (and the on-screen keyboard), meaning that it's a software, not hardware error.
I have taken the following actions to fix the problem:
- Reset PRAM (no change to problem)
- Using Disk Utility to repair permissions and verify disk (no change to problem)
- Created a new user on the computer (problem re-appeared after importing my backup files using MigrationAssistant)
- Created a new user on the computer and imported files without importing "Settings" but problem reappeared
- Reinstalled Mountain Lion (problem appeared after importing my backup files using MigrationAssistant)
The last Genius thought the error was due to an application corrupting some system-wide file in Mountain Lion, so we wiped my hard drive, reinstalled files, and imported my documents but not my apps. I manually installed one app at a time and had no issues for 3 months or so.
The problem "randomly" came back last week. Looking at apps that were installed recently, it shows:
- Flux (update - but Flux was on my computer for 3 months with no issues)
- Quicksand (update - but Quicksand was NOT on my computer last year when the problem started)
- VLC Media Player (this WAS on my computer last year but was NOT on my computer in the 3 months with no issue).
Thus, it seems that the culprit app was VLC. I've deleted it (using AppTrap to clear system files), but the problem still exists.
So, three questions:
1) Does anyone have any idea why this is happening, how to prevent it, or whether it might start again even if I wipe and reinstall everything?
2) I'd like to fix the problem without wiping my computer and doing a clean install of everything. Any ideas of how I could avoid doing that?
3) If I have to sacrifice VLC to solve the problem, fine, but I'd prefer not to. Any ideas as to how I could use it still?
TLDR: Command key activates wrong window in Mountain Lion; confirmed software issue; reinstall worked fine until installed VLC Media Player and problem returned; how do I fix it?
themarkofbooks
MBPro (mid 2009) on 10.8.5
Regularly (near daily) backup to TimeMachine
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)