On Mon, 14 May 2018 06:47:15 -0700
William Morder <doctor_contendo@...> wrote:

> Just started getting this bug in my mouse. The left-click function won't
> work on the top menu bar in pretty much any application, on any desktop.
> I am able to access functions sometimes only by using the tab and
> shift-tab to move back and forth through menus, etc.; but this doesn't
> work in all programs. 
> 
> Notably, I can't click on the home icon in any browser, nor can I use any
> menu functions. 
> 
> When I try to right-click, part of my screen (more or less the upper left
> hand corner, about one quarter of my screen) acts like I am on the
> desktop rather than in a program, and I see the menu functions to
> configure desktop. 
> 
> I've seen this bug before, and it seems to go away after weeks of
> annoying me, or I reinstall everything and then (if I recall) it seems to
> go away, but I don't want to reinstall everything over what I think is
> just a bug. 
> 
> Is there perhaps a config file buried somewhere that will fix this bug?
> Or has anybody else ever had a similar problem? 
> 
> By the way, it all seemed to start after I used smplayer, on
> recommendation from another user here. (Not blaming anybody, as I have
> totally messed up then rebuilt my machine many times, often just after
> trying out some new program.) I prefer vlc, but that, too, has been buggy
> and always crashes, and smplayer works pretty well. I remember making
> changes in the smplayer config (but nothing that I thought would affect
> the mouse); although it seems that thereafter is when I started having
> these problems. 
> 
> I've gone through the smplayer settings again and again, and don't find 
> anything that ought to affect the mouse. 
> 
> Please help, if you have any clue what is the cause of this bug. Thanks. 
> 

From your description i can see two possibilities:
1. Some kind of focus stealing is going on. It can be tricky to find what
program causes this, but check tde focus stealing prevention options
(windows behavior->focus) and try setting to none and to extreme and see if
any of this help.
2. Check that you dont have any stuck mod keys (Alt,ctrl,win),also there
is a possibility that some program can rise a virtual "mod key". Use
xkbwatch to check.


 
  Nick Koretsky (nick.koretsky@...)