Mikee wrote:
>I have a habit of "right-clicking" and I am trying not to>>


You have an optical mouse. It's 5 years old. For an optical mouse, that's 
very old---the equivalent of about 90 in human terms. As Hugh says, replace 
it before trying anything else. Mice don't usually last that long. You're 
lucky to get 2 years out of the cheaper ones. It's the most likely cause of 
your problem.

There are other possibilities such as software conflicts. How long is it 
since you last reformatted the hard drive?  It should be done at least once 
every 2 or 3 years at most. Corruptions build up over the years.

Probably what's happening is that the contacts inside the mouse buttons are 
worn, so that the computer is not getting a proper right-click signal. 
Seeing a conflicting signal will lockup Windows Explorer with exactly the 
result you're seeing.

There is a simple workaround alternative when Explorer freezes, rather than 
rebooting. It's only a temporary stopgap until you fix the real problem. 
The workaround is not well known, but here's the procedure for unfreezing 
Explorer: (Note it doesn't work in all cases, depending on what has caused 
the lockup)

1. Ctrl/Alt/Del to bring up Task Manager. Select Explorer and click End Task.

2. Don't close Task Manager. Now you'll see only the bare desktop, with no 
icons, no Start Button. That's a bit scary the first time you try it. Task 
Manager is still showing.

3. In the Task Manager window, now click on File/New Task.

4. Type "explorer" (no quotes). Click OK.

5. Wait a moment, and Explorer will start again and all your lovely desktop 
icons etc will now be back, with Explorer freed of whatever caused its 
lockup. Everything should be back to normal.

6. (Optional) You might want to manually restart some of your regular 
background startup programs, as these sometimes operate by "hooking" into 
Explorer. When you close Explorer, those hooks will be broken until next 
time you reboot.

7. Let us know how you get on, as your experience will help others.

I don't quite understand your comment I've quoted above. You only need to 
right-click when you want to bring up a menu, or whenever you're dragging 
files around. Is that what you mean?  It's a very good habit, as dragging 
by left button does not give you any options to select what action you want 
(ie copy, move, shortcut). Always right-drag. Unless, of course, you have a 
mouse that's not properly house-trained or which has gotten too old to obey.

Don Penlington


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