XP "point to select" doesn't work

[Michael]

I'm dealing with an XP Home SP3 machine which is set to select desktop
icons and Windows Explorer items when the mouse cursor points at them.
But it is not doing that. The option Tools | Folder Options |
Single-click to open an item (point to select) is enabled. I've
switched it to double click and back to single, but this does not
help. It will still open an item when I single click on it, but it
will not select anything without either right-clicking on it or
scrolling using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

A system restore is out of the question, as the problem has been going
on for far longer than SR's history. I'm out of ideas, short of
re-installing XP. Any suggestions?

 

[Iceman]

I'm dealing with an XP Home SP3 machine which is set to select desktop
icons and Windows Explorer items when the mouse cursor points at them.
But it is not doing that. The option Tools | Folder Options |
Single-click to open an item (point to select) is enabled. I've
switched it to double click and back to single, but this does not
help. It will still open an item when I single click on it, but it
will not select anything without either right-clicking on it or
scrolling using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

A system restore is out of the question, as the problem has been going
on for far longer than SR's history. I'm out of ideas, short of
re-installing XP. Any suggestions?

Your mouse drivers may be corrupt or outdated. Try getting the latest
drivers from the manufacturer. See also this page:

"Troubleshoot mouse double-clicking when you single-click"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266738

 

[Michael]

Your mouse drivers may be corrupt or outdated. Try getting the latest
drivers from the manufacturer. See also this page:

"Troubleshoot mouse double-clicking when you single-click"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266738

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the delay in replying, as I've been
out of town and trying to set up a Win7 machine,

The mouse is a PS/2 wired GE model 97986. It didn't come with any
drivers, but I was able to find them online. I installed them and the
problem remains. I also performed a repair install for XP and that
didn't help, either. I looked at the page you mentioned, even though
that's not the problem I'm having. Items won't select when I point to
them, even though I have that setting on. I have to change the folder
option to "Double-click to open an item (single click to select)",
which is a pain, because my other 3 computers don't work that way.
I've tried the mouse on my other machines (and vice versa) and it
works fine on them, so it's got to be an XP issue. Any other ideas
short of a full wipe and re-install?

 

[Michael]

Your mouse drivers may be corrupt or outdated. Try getting the latest
drivers from the manufacturer. See also this page:

"Troubleshoot mouse double-clicking when you single-click"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266738

Never mind, I got it figured out. I found a tool called Tweak UI XP
and found a mouse section in it. It displayed a "hover sensitivity"
of zero. Changing it to a non-zero value fixed the problem. I'll be
damned if I know how it got set to zero, but at least it's fixed.
Thanks for your time.