Basically what the title says. Whenever I reload my game, regardless of what settings I have selected, the interact icon will start appearing above npcs and objects. I don’t even have an interact key bound and it only seems to do this on one of my characters.
i’m unsure what you mean by the “interact icon”?
the game doesn’t check to see if you have an interact key bound, so i’m not sure of the relevance.
are you sure it’s not just something like outline mode?
options > interface > scroll down to “display” > outline mode, and see if any of the options are enabled.
It’s the interact icon that hovers above an item/character that I can interact with using the interact key. Usually displays the same icon that would display if you hover over them with your mouse.
the cog icon? 
Yes, do you know how the interact key function works?
Just to be sure, did you check “options > controls > enable interact key” on that character to make sure it’s unchecked? I believe that setting may be character-specific since I always have to go in and set auto loot on a new character. I have had an “interact with target” key bound for years, but that functions separately from the enable interact key option they added in a more recent patch, which would add this additional functionality where you don’t have to click on the target.
Yup! I have it unchecked.
I had seen lots of reports about custom settings not sticking with logout in the past, so I figured it’s worth it to check. What about under “accessibility > general > interact key icons”? I think you could select “show none” to hide them, but you’d still have the other interact functionality if it’s actually stuck unless the “show all” overrides the interact setting. It’s also possible an add-on is interfering and you could try a temporary UI reset to test it by renaming the WTF, cache, and interface folders, then changing them back if it didn’t help. Do you use any fishing or quest turn-in add-ons? Something like that might have an interact toggle.
yes…
you can use it to interact with a lot of things, not just things which cog on mouse-over… which is why i was asking.