Windows Explorer Rename on Left click

[KevinH]

I'm having the strangest behavior with windows explorer on Win 7 after a fresh install. Now when I left click any item, it automatically attempts to rename it for me. Suffice it to say, it's VERY irritating.

Did I accidentally do this somehow?

 

[lxskllr]

I don't know if it's the same thing, but in Vista if you hover over the file in detail view for a second, and then click, it wants to rename it. I haven't seen that with the other view settings though. I never tried to fix it. I just click quicker :^D

 

[KevinH]

It's doing it on every view. It's bizarre because I've done a gajillion installations and I've never seen this. Just so annoying.

Even when I have an icon/folder/file highlighted and move the mouse away, it's STILL trying to rename it.

 

[KevinH]

Bump for resolution. Reformatted again on same computer and getting same results. computer fine before this reinstall.

Anyone?

Driving me apeshit...

 

[Steltek]

The left button switch on your mouse is probably failing - try swapping the mouse out before you do anything else.

If this doesn't solve the problem, also try swapping your keyboard to ensure you don't have a stuck key that is interacting with the mouse driver to cause this effect.

In terms of software settings, there isn't a lot that could cause this. In Windows Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options. On the General tab, make sure the "Click items as follows" option is set to "Double-click to open an item (single-click to select)".

To ensure Windows doesn't have a buggy driver for your mouse, I'd download and install the specific mouse driver software from the mouse manufacturer (i.e. Microsoft, Logitech, etc) - install it, then reset the driver to defaults to ensure that your left mouse button hasn't been reprogrammed. You may also want to play around with the left click speed settings to ensure that they haven't been set to the wrong settings.

 

[KevinH]

The left button switch on your mouse is probably failing - try swapping the mouse out before you do anything else.

If this doesn't solve the problem, also try swapping your keyboard to ensure you don't have a stuck key that is interacting with the mouse driver to cause this effect.

In terms of software settings, there isn't a lot that could cause this. In Windows Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options. On the General tab, make sure the "Click items as follows" option is set to "Double-click to open an item (single-click to select)".

To ensure Windows doesn't have a buggy driver for your mouse, I'd download and install the specific mouse driver software from the mouse manufacturer (i.e. Microsoft, Logitech, etc) - install it, then reset the driver to defaults to ensure that your left mouse button hasn't been reprogrammed. You may also want to play around with the left click speed settings to ensure that they haven't been set to the wrong settings.

I've tried multiple mice and they're all doing the same thing (these mice are working fine on my laptop).

Strangely, this was just a fresh reformat and I was using this same setup before.

Going to reseat everything in my computer. Only thing I can think of is some interference somewhere.

Going to try a different keyboard too.

G15 Keyboard was/is the cause. Bizarre.

 

[Emulex]

maybe you had it in left handed mode 😉

 

[Steltek]

G15 Keyboard was/is the cause. Bizarre.

The problem is probably something related to the F2 key on the keyboard - left clicking once on a file to select it followed by pressing F2 is a shortcut in Windows to rename the selected file.