# Laptop- left click producing the right click menu

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-left-click-producing-the-right-click-menu/395074>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 8, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-left-click-producing-the-right-click-menu/395074 "2007-03-08T06:02:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-left-click-producing-the-right-click-menu/395074/1 "2007-03-08T06:02:42Z")

</div>

On my laptop (HP, running XP), suddenly whenever I left click it pops up with the right click menu (open, open in tab, etc.). Does anyone have any experience with how to fix this?

I tried going to properties-mouse, but the box is unchecked that says “switch left and right click”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-left-click-producing-the-right-click-menu/395074/2 "2007-03-08T06:52:58Z")

</div>

What kind of mouse are you using? Are you using a trackpad or trackball, or do you have a true mouse plugged into it?

Does right clicking also bring up the right-click menu? Or does it now function as a left click?

It might be worth checking to see if any keys are stuck down; in particular, any laptop-specific function keys. I haven’t seen this myself, but it seems plausible that some laptops may have a special key that changes left clicks into right clicks. And in my experience, laptop keyboards tend to stick more often than regular keyboards. You can often unstick a key by tapping it firmly and quickly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-left-click-producing-the-right-click-menu/395074/3 "2007-03-08T06:58:15Z")

</div>

I had a similar issue earlier today in firefox. Everything I clicked on either opened in a new tab, or brought up the save as menu.

Turns out my cat was leaning on the alt & ctrl keys when she was sat on my lap - perhaps check your non-mouse keys & see if any of them are sticking?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-left-click-producing-the-right-click-menu/395074/4 "2007-03-08T11:28:06Z")

</div>

I second (third) the sticky key theory. I sometimes get similar weird mouse behaviour due to a sticky Alt key on my work PC.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-left-click-producing-the-right-click-menu/395074/5 "2007-03-08T11:53:32Z")

</div>

Or it could be a Windows accessibility feature called [StickyKeys](http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/stickykeys.aspx) - have a look in Control Panel\>Accessibility\>Keyboard to make sure this isn’t switched on.