[AndrewEWilson]

My father has been using Macs for a number of years now he knows what he is doing. His iMac is acting strangely in that when he clicks his mouse, the computer treats it as a right click, whichever side he uses. So for instance if he clicks on a dock item, it opens the finder window enclosing that item, mainly the Application folder. There are many other instances, so it is not a dock issue.

If I use iChat to access his desktop, I can left click on a dock item and it starts as expected.

He has also tried an older mouse which shows the same problem, so it is not the mouse itself.

We have changed System Preferences to re-assign his mouse buttons, and this does not remove the problem.

Its as though the driver itself is corrupt. His iMac is an intel based system about 3 years old. His mouse is the regular two button variety which came with it, and the older one is a similar type from an old eMac. He is running Snow Leopard OSX 10.6.4.

Any ideas?

[ibook_steve]

Have you tried a different USB port? A powered (or unpowered) USB hub? Do any other USB devices behave strangely? Sounds like hardware to me.

Steve

[AndrewEWilson]

Thanks Steve. I'll look into that. As far as I remember, the mouse is plugged into the keyboard. Will investigate.

[jamillion]

The Ctrl key on the keyboard could be intermittent, explaining the unexpected right clicks.

[P]

That was an excellent idea by jamillion. Try unplugging the keyboard entirely.