Solved Right click problem in opening file dialog window

Hello,
The mouse RIGHT-click to open a file operations dialog box doesn't work anymore. A right-click on a filename jumps the display up to the parent folder; right-click on that jumps up to the next level - and so on.
If anyone can help please note that I am not computer clever. Thank you

Hello Jasques, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might see if doing a system restore using a restore point (if available) dated before this started may be able to undo the cause and fix this for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

First, try this:
On some computer keyboards there is a menu icon to the right of the space bar, usually after the "ALT" button. This will activate the right mouse context menu for whatever is highlighted (file or folder). You can also access it by pressing SHIFT+F10 (shift and F10 buttons simultaneously). This should bring up the right mouse context menu. If it does, then at least the menu access isn't compromised. If it doesn't, and does the same thing as what you're describing with right mouse click, then something else is up and you might want to do a system restore.

However, if the menu came up via the keyboard shortcut, then you should check your mouse settings (via control panel) to see if the right mouse button has been inadvertently remapped. I'd first try resetting the mouse to the defaults, to eliminate this as a cause.

Unfortunately the system restore didn't help. In fact I tried twice and in both cases the system restore failed. So that's another problem to solve!

I tried Cytherian's suggestion with the 'windows' button and also SHIFT/F10 when a filename is highlighted but that didn't work either. In both cases the left hand big Windows panel came up and nothing to do with the relevant file.

Jaques,

As a test, create a new administrator acccount, log in to it, and see if you are having the same issue in it. This will help see if it's just a issue in your current account or system wide.

Thank you both for your time and suggestions. The right-click problem seems to be allied to the mouse because a new mouse doesn't seem to have the problem (yet!).
I don't know about the failure of the system restore though.

I'm glad to hear that you got the right click issue sorted. Thank you for posting back with your findings on it.

As for system restore, it's not uncommon for the restore points to possibly be corrupted causing the failure.

^ That's a really good suggestion. I'm surprised that system restore failed.

Jacques, do you remember when this right mouse button problem first started? And can you remember anything you might have done immediately prior to it? This is a very strange thing to happen all of its own accord. I've never heard anybody having an issue like this with mouse buttons, except for a virus. Double-check to be sure your anti-virus is working and up to date.