I’ve run more and more in to this problem with Keyboards and Mice related to a lock up of one of them. This is during normal user activities and results in the Left Mouse button not opening a program but the programs properties. You can still right click and do open however this is a pain.
I learned the solution in Dos when I was 7 or so before Windows 3.1 was released. Credit should go to Nathan Wilcox who is my cousin and showed me this trick to unlock and reset the keyboard and mouse from Basic but it still applies today in any Windows, Linux or Dos OS.
Fix: You must do all of these at the same time. Left Hand = LCtrl + LAlt + LShift while Right Hand = RCtrl + RAlt + RShift = Keyboard and Mouse reset.
To clarify hold down all Ctrl+Alt+Shift at the same time.
If this post or any advise I give helps you please support my small business by liking my Facebook page or giving good reviews on yelp, Bing, Facebook, Spice works, Yahoo, Google and others. I know it’s a lot but it would sure help me keep providing great advise and services to businesses and families. http://www.dontpanic.biz
Updated Link.
Don't Panic Business Technologies 
hey thanks a lot man! it worked. . . sometimes such stupid things can be pain in the ***!~
By: Gaurav on October 21, 2009
at 4:14 pm
ha, so simple. *scribbles into book of all time easiest fixes*
thanks!
By: ben masters on December 3, 2009
at 2:40 pm
Thanks didnt have a clue how this happen .But this fixed it.
By: dean gray on May 31, 2010
at 5:05 pm
ahaha thanks man, committed that one to memory
By: Travis Little on June 7, 2010
at 2:12 am
Thank you very much. Sincerely!
By: louie on June 16, 2010
at 2:13 pm
So many thanks – this completely saved me just now. Worked great in Win 7 x64, FYI.
By: Chairman Now on July 28, 2010
at 8:17 pm
Wow Amazing had this problem many times over the years normally needing an annoying restart glad i found this page thanks alot excellent trick.
By: Lee on September 27, 2010
at 10:26 pm
hi
i also have the same problem but this solution is not working for me.please anyone help me
By: sivaranjani on October 6, 2010
at 5:20 pm
me too, didn’t work, I have literally tried EVERYTHING
By: Kimi on August 9, 2016
at 3:18 pm
really easy and simple solution. thanks alot man.
By: kamk on October 13, 2010
at 6:13 pm
Thanks dude. Always had to restart when that happened.
By: Mala on November 9, 2010
at 8:35 pm
Actually, and you can credit this to me, all you need to do is hit ALT. Plain and simple. But this is hot-fix not a solution, as this still happens from time to time.
By: Jayce on November 23, 2010
at 2:38 pm
for the mass of fixes and workaround this solution works for just clicking alt doesn’t fix most of the issues. Trust me, I’ve click every damn keyboard key there is many times, new keyboards… doesn’t matter. This solution/work around is for on the fly to solve issues in so many programs I can’t list them. From Autodesk Autocad and Revit to Excel and on and on.
By: jbenisek on November 23, 2010
at 4:41 pm
Thank you, can’t believe this post from 13 years ago worked
By: Jacko on June 10, 2021
at 3:22 am
Yeah, sadly technology is running use not use running it. So happy this still helps people. Peace be with you.
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on June 10, 2021
at 1:43 pm
holy shit it worked!!! 15 years on and this post keeps helping folks out!
By: Rusty Ryan on February 26, 2023
at 8:35 pm
Isn’t it amazing!
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on February 27, 2023
at 2:48 am
Wow that was simple. Thank you so much. That’s right up there with learning that Alt+F4 closes a window.
By: James on December 3, 2010
at 3:19 pm
Thanks heaps man, most appreciated. I just thought someone had been stuffing round with my PC settings hahaha.
By: Shadow on June 23, 2011
at 6:17 am
AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOO!!!!
By: Robert on July 25, 2011
at 3:27 am
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS. I Really Appreciate your help.
By: Amir on December 19, 2011
at 3:31 pm
t thought my pc got infected………n what a solution….. clicking only ALT fixed my prob……..
i keep wondering how a simple thing i still didnt know..shame on me…..
By: moh.bay on February 9, 2012
at 7:08 am
my left click still moves my cursor. I have tried hitting alt-ctl-shft (both left and right) at the same time and tried the alt as well. Nothing is working. Do I need to restart my computer ?
Please help it is driving me insane !
By: tkboyd on February 9, 2012
at 11:46 pm
If USB try unplugging from one USB port and putting it in a different USB port.
When did it start how long ago? What OS are you using XP or Windows 7.
If not very long ago and Windows 7, think about doing a system restore to before that day it started. This would reset the system but leave your data safe. Please read up about System Restore before doing it.
By: jbenisek on February 10, 2012
at 12:09 am
Yeah, i know this happened after i was playing with my Oracle Virtual Box Right+Ctrl brings mouse in and out of virtual machine ;P but thanks for solution Windows 7 32 bit.
By: Norah on March 3, 2012
at 7:48 pm
Fantastic was totally stumped but did this and all fixed now thanks a lot
By: Doug on July 17, 2012
at 2:41 pm
You just saved me a lot of frustration!
Worked like a charm! Thanks! 🙂
By: Vedrana on September 2, 2012
at 9:24 pm
Thanx man really thanks i owe u something big i thought u were jocking but it really works
By: Ajay Suresh on September 9, 2012
at 1:45 pm
THANKS! still don’t know why this is happening but you had the solution. Wonderful!
By: Morten on September 21, 2012
at 7:08 am
No problem, it’s amazing how many people have these problems.
If you would all do me a great help and rate my Company on Yelp, Yahoo, Bing, Google and Angies List would sure help me out. Times are hard and I need all the help I can get as a small business owner.
Visit my website here http://www.dontpanic.biz/contact.html at the bottom of the page are links to each service.
Also like my Companies Facebook Page there too. Thank you for your support.
By: jbenisek on September 22, 2012
at 1:39 am
Thanx dude….. It really works…
By: surya on September 27, 2012
at 1:59 am
I’m so happy I could help. Please help me out and like my company on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Panic-Business-Technologies/140779735936714
It also helps if you like my business on bing, yahoo, google, linked in and yelp. Thank you!
By: jbenisek on October 2, 2012
at 3:59 pm
Sorry but it did not work for me. Tried it few times for no avail.
Reboot di not work. K/B & mouse unplug – did not work either.
I use another computer to type now as the other one is totally unusable due to it
By: Isaac on October 14, 2012
at 7:44 pm
what’s the problem in the first place. This works for lots of stuff. What and when did the problem start?
By: jbenisek on October 14, 2012
at 9:42 pm
Replaced mouse …. different drivers.
The new one works fine.
The old one still causes problems.
Looks like it has to do with specific driver problems
By: Isaac on January 29, 2013
at 6:46 am
wow.. yeah that was really annoying me thanks very much
By: jesse on January 25, 2013
at 9:13 am
Awesome dude, thanks. Was driving me batty.
By: Vas on February 4, 2013
at 11:43 pm
Did not work. Still can not double click on desktop shortcuts to launch. Can not move icons on desktop either. Any other ideas besides the singe Alt key. It did not work either.
By: Pat on February 25, 2013
at 3:08 am
So you tried CTRL+ALT+SHIFT on Both sides of the keyboard at the same time. Six keys at once? If so and that still doesn’t work then if it’s a USB Mouse unplug and change to a different USB port. If that doesn’t work or it’s a PS2 mouse then turn off the computer and push each button on the keyboard a few times to make sure one button isn’t stuck under the key which you can’t see. If both those don’t work, buy or borrow a new keyboard and mouse and test with those.
By: jbenisek on February 25, 2013
at 3:23 am
I’m so happy this has helped so many of you out. If you could please help me out and give me a review on http://www.yelp.com/biz/dont-panic-business-technologies-grand-junction-2
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Thank you so much
By: jbenisek on February 25, 2013
at 3:30 am
Thanx Bro! Worked instantly!!!!!!
By: Piyush on March 17, 2013
at 6:13 pm
Did not work for me. I was hoping it would with all the positive feedback. I have discovered that if I disable the track pad and its buttons that I can get the red track button cursor and its buttons to work correctly. It seems that it is only when the track pad is enabled. I have a Lenova T520. Once I click on the desktop and the right click menu appears the left click will not work. In explore I cannot click on tabs to switch between them. I have to go to task manager which resets the mouse and then I can disable the track pad. I was thinking maybe I should try and remove and re install the driver for this. I thought I would check with you and see what you thought I should try. Thanks for your help!
By: Al Andersen on April 13, 2013
at 3:29 pm
I worry you have the mouse settings, track pad and others setup differently. You might have a IBM 3rd party track pad software too which might also be different. I’d check each and every program related and make sure they are all correct. The reason I say this is because when you turn off one the other works.
When you do Task Manager what are you ending?
By: jbenisek on April 14, 2013
at 6:56 am
I don’t have to do anything actually. I can left click right after it launches so I go right to the touch pad icon in the system tray and disable it and everything is good with the track point. I tried to restore to a previous point but that does not help. I think I may have hit multiple keys or a function command that caused this to happen but I am not sure what it was.
By: Alan Andersen on April 14, 2013
at 3:47 pm
ok so open that icon instead and in the setting switch the buttons function from mouse click left to mouse click right. Then save and see if that fixes it.
By: jbenisek on April 18, 2013
at 12:36 am
I read this article fully regarding the difference of most recent and previous technologies, it’s awesome article.
By: Betsy on May 9, 2013
at 3:45 am
Spot on with this write-up, I honestly think this website needs a lot more attention.
I’ll probably be back again to see more, thanks for the information!
By: home loans modesto on May 15, 2013
at 1:24 pm
when i hold the right click, the left doesnt work
By: mike on June 17, 2013
at 10:13 am
This might be a mouse hardware issue. Did you try the suggested solution? If it didn’t work I’d try a different mouse.
By: jbenisek on June 30, 2013
at 4:20 am
IT WORKS! Love you man :3
By: Konrad on August 8, 2013
at 10:03 pm
thank you very much men i love you@
By: cannex on September 3, 2013
at 12:53 pm
wow! this is a life saver, tried all the tricks and this simple solution nailed it!
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at 12:41 pm
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at 12:58 am
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at 10:05 pm
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at 10:27 pm
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By: dgn2200v4 problems on May 28, 2014
at 11:58 pm
And, right now, late Jun 14th 2014, your solution still works like a charm. Thank’s a bunch. OS: Windows 7 x64
By: TF Boat on June 14, 2014
at 3:15 pm
funny static can causes it. everyone should know this trick.
By: jbenisek on June 30, 2014
at 6:01 pm
YOU ARE A SHINING GOLDEN GOD! this will be book marked to the end of time for me…
By: DV8_IN on July 4, 2014
at 7:08 am
THANK GOD. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. THANK. YOU.
By: Dan on August 9, 2014
at 9:44 pm
Thank you for the solutuin. It is the most simplest solution I have seen to date for a problem that looks very serious
By: Hari on August 31, 2014
at 5:48 am
Thank you very much!!!!!!
Need also to press the mouse left and right buttons at the same time pressing SHift-Alt-Ctl on both sides, means 8 buttons at the same time
By: Tal on September 8, 2014
at 7:32 am
Hi, it doesn’t work for me… Both laptop buttons open the menu… Settings are fine, but it happened after I wiped that part of the keyboard with a wet germ wipe, so I pressed something… Any ideas???
By: Aaron on October 16, 2014
at 12:47 am
Unplug laptop, remove battery and let it sit for at least 10-20 minutes. Then try. Static charges wont clear until the battery is removed and system un plugged.
By: jbenisek on October 16, 2014
at 12:53 am
Thanks for the idea, that didn’t work… I’m going to try an external mouse tomorrow… Other than that, my mind is blank…
By: Aaron on October 16, 2014
at 1:34 am
Hmm, and your sure under touchpad settings the left button is left click (mouse 1) and right button is right click (mouse 2 I think)?
Windows 7 or 8?
By: jbenisek on October 16, 2014
at 1:44 am
Yep, Right handed left primary click (normal select, normal drag) is selected, I have tried reversing that, and it doesn’t matter… All it thinks like is one big button… Win7
By: Aaron on October 16, 2014
at 1:55 am
Shouldn’t right hand be second click. Left hand is primary.
And u did all six buttons? Shift, alt, ctrl left side and right side all at once.
Sent from my Windows Phone ________________________________
By: jbenisek on October 16, 2014
at 2:10 am
Right handed as I am right handed… Right button is secondary, but in this case both are primary… That’s how it’s worded in win7… I tried all the buttons at once… Also, I can’t hold down the button and control the right scroll up / down with the pad… Considering how many it helped, could it be virus related??
By: Aaron on October 16, 2014
at 2:23 am
Just do the six in the original post. Left ctrl+alt+shift + right ctrl+alt+shift
Next step would be to reset drive for touchpad, but you should have an external for that process.
Sent from my Windows Phone ________________________________
By: jbenisek on October 16, 2014
at 6:23 am
ok next step would be to see if you have a system restore point from before the point this started.
Start, type system restore, start it, it will tell you the last system restore, but there will be an option to see other dates, this will show you a calendar of restore points, find one before this problem and try that.
This will reset windows to that point. It shouldn’t effect your files. But if you say installed a new program since that point you would have to reinstall that program.
You can review all this on MS website under Windows 7 System Restore. Jeremy
Sent from Windows Mail on Windows 8.1 from Don’t Panic Business Technologies – http://www.dontpanic.biz – 970-210-6626 – jb@dontpanic.biz
By: jbenisek on October 16, 2014
at 5:33 pm
I eliminated the synaptics driver from add / remove and restarted… Tried the ctrl alt shift both sides again, same problem… Re installed synaptics driver, running Malware Bytes anti root kit
By: Aaron on October 16, 2014
at 7:27 am
I did a restore to a long time ago, that’s typically what I do first because I have done it so many times… That didn’t do anything… I am using an external mouse with no problem now, so the issue is either hardware or the software, but the drivers are fine according to the system and there is no visible damage to the buttons… The thing only cost $200, so it’s just a matter of it being a pain more than anything… I’ll do a full system restore for the 2 hour fun of it next… Thanks for your help
By: Aaron on October 16, 2014
at 7:01 pm
hey, this also solved my problem.
By: cluster on November 12, 2014
at 5:12 am
OMG! Thanks a lot 😀 That was just like magic! 😀 First thoughts when the problem happened is that I must have been infected with viruses. Thank you so much!
By: FranzC on January 31, 2015
at 3:46 pm
Reblogged this on Don't Panic and commented:
This has helped so many people I wanted to re-blog it.
By: jbenisek on February 7, 2015
at 9:42 pm
That was amazing, thank you! My cat walked across my keyboard and ever since the mouse has been all jacked up. This fixed it! Thank so much!
By: adrienneevelyn on February 18, 2015
at 10:40 pm
Tnx mate,worked like a charm 🙂 Nice trick.
By: Boki_Lee on April 16, 2015
at 6:37 am
THANK YOU !!!
By: SHANT on October 22, 2015
at 3:33 pm
thank u very much buddy…
By: praveen on November 16, 2015
at 4:08 am
you are welcome
By: jbenisek on November 18, 2015
at 11:11 pm
Hi,
I am facing some issues with mouse.
When I left click it take it as right click and when right is clicked nothing happens. So I tried to access mouse using keyboard, but same issue can be seen there also. And sometimes it automatically get random clicks (right clicks)..
Waiting for your help thank you in advance..!!
By: Abhi on December 5, 2015
at 1:03 pm
This worries me you might be infected, try hitman pro and make sure.
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on January 26, 2016
at 4:42 pm
Hi,
Currently I m facing some issue with mouse.. I tried Ctrl+alt+shift (all six) but issue is still there.
Actually the issue is when I clicked left it take it as right and when I clicked right nothing happens.
So, I tried to control mouse using keyboard when I clicked using keyboard (pressed 5 on numpad) it also acting as a right click.
And sometimes mouse randomly starts right clicking automatically
So if you have solution for this plz let me know. !!!
Thank you in advance..!!!
By: Abhi on December 5, 2015
at 2:11 pm
I’m not sure. Have you tested a different mouse? Checked the settings? Tried a different USB port. Unplug the system for 15 minutes unplugged then try.
By: jbenisek on December 27, 2015
at 4:34 am
thank you!!!
By: aa on January 2, 2016
at 11:48 am
Thank you So much :’) i think my laptop is crash but you can fix it thanks (from Indonesia)
By: rayyi andrian prakoso on April 15, 2016
at 6:16 am
I think this will actually work if you just press all those buttons on at a time. It has to do with windows missing a key-up event somewhere. Every time you press and release a mouse button or key there is down and up event. If it misses the up event, it thinks the key is still down. Pressing all those buttons ensures windows sees them all as being up.
By: Chuck Hamnilton on April 20, 2016
at 1:31 pm
It seems like that but i learned this before windows was released in dos, it an actual reset as during basic programming youd loop or mess thinks up while playing with the keyboard lights, sounds or changing layouts this would clear those up too. Not just fix down/up events.
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on April 20, 2016
at 2:39 pm
plz help me in my problem,,, in my pc or mouse.. when i click left click or primary botton,, it doesnt work..the result of clicking this is it appears a search bar or letter r…
tnx in advance master
By: jeffrey on May 24, 2016
at 10:27 am
That sounds more like an infection run hitman pro, use a previous restore point before it started or refresh windows.
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on May 24, 2016
at 3:22 pm
It isn’t working, do u think I have a virus? Geez, its a BRAND NEW computer, I have tried everything…..
By: Kimi on August 9, 2016
at 3:27 pm
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I don’t realize who you might be however certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you
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By: Margaret Wilsons on September 10, 2016
at 12:26 pm
Thank A Lot, it’s working.
By: Noriz on September 25, 2016
at 1:07 pm
It worked for me! Thank you very much. 🙂
By: Meg on February 2, 2017
at 11:31 pm
Thanks. This works. Came very handy as I was getting really frustrated with the issue.
By: Sarath on February 25, 2017
at 1:07 pm
Oh. This is magic…
By: Ghiferson on March 9, 2017
at 4:25 am
I wish they would teach this magic in schools.
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on March 9, 2017
at 11:02 pm
You sir, are a genius! Thank you 🙂
By: danielgillard4labour on May 28, 2017
at 12:55 am
The fix improved the problem, but did not completely fix it. At this point I will take “improved” over the previous state the mouse was in. Thank you. Maybe if I keep doing the fix, it will completely resolve the problem.
By: Charles Leonard MD on June 26, 2017
at 9:47 pm
I bought a Skyee USB wireless mouse (Made in China) & when I use it on my HP Laptop, the left click often reloads, back or forward the page (sometimes it works quite well for a while) & on startup I see a, “mouse interface error, press F1 for bios setup”. I’ve checked, the drivers are up to date. I even installed Microsoft intellipiont 8.2 but still the problem persists.Can you help me fix the issue?
Thank You
By: Luv Singh on August 6, 2017
at 11:59 am
I’ve also tried different USB ports but the result is the same!
By: Luv Singh on August 6, 2017
at 12:05 pm
I have been having this problem every once in a while for 16 years. Thank you so much. Finally I can do something about it instead of just waiting.
By: ColdFusion on March 27, 2018
at 5:42 am
You are welcome, tell your friends.
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on March 27, 2018
at 1:58 pm
at first this was stupid and annoying for my customer. I was confused at first being so simple and landed on your article; thanks for helping.
By: Alain Hernandez (@SuccessfulAlain) on April 11, 2018
at 7:21 am
Why does this work? I’ve literally wasted hours trying to fix this. And this simple solution worked.
By: Richard Spivey on July 11, 2018
at 7:27 pm
All devices have what is called Firmware which funs the base of the device. The keyboard and mouse have at it’s core basic programming for resetting themselves. When drivers and programers make mistakes the device can lock up or be told to do something it can’t do. This set of keys resets it.
Experience is critical in Technology. We’re losing this type of information everyday because people don’t care about old stuff. Bug everything old made what we have today and even thought you can’t see it. Old is still there. Hiding.
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on July 11, 2018
at 7:33 pm
Fixed my problem! Thank you! Read through a couple of Microsoft forums before seeing your article. They didn’t know what to do! “Did you try a different mouse?” “Let’s uninstall and reinstall your mouse driver.” LOL!
By: Jacob W on August 30, 2018
at 5:31 pm
wow thanks alot it works greatly
By: Renukadevi on October 9, 2018
at 7:30 am
It’s work for me.
Thanks lots.
By: vilas Shivgan on April 14, 2019
at 2:20 pm
Great news. Please tell others and if you can link then back here. I don’t make any money off this stuff but at least getting my name out there helps. http://www.DontPanic.biz
By: Jeremy Benisek (CyberAxe) Don't Panic Business Technologies on April 14, 2019
at 3:13 pm
Lots of thanks.
It’s really work.
By: Vilas on April 14, 2019
at 2:22 pm