Have to click twice for mouse to do anything

I was finally able to isolate the source of the problem on my machine. The problem was the program “type it for me”. Once I disabled this program on both of my machines and rebooted the problem went away. It seems to have something to do with the Universal access settings. when the setting “enable access for assistive devices” is checked and “type it for me” is open, I get the double-click phenomena.

I hope this helps someone.

I dont have any of the apps / utilities mentioned in this thread, nor do I have any of the Universal access turned on, yet this left mouse click problem is a real PITA. Mac mini 10.6.8 using USB mouse (tried a couple different ones). Right click never seems to be a problem just left.

Hey,

so, I did a clean install of Lion..issue is still there:(

Not using Spotify / "Type it for me" / Universal Access.

Programs installed: MS Office, Chrome, Skype, Aperture, uTorrent, Firefox, Adobe Reader.

Any other ideas / suggestions?

hey so, i've been experiencing this for a while (it started when i installed the 10.6.8 supplemental update), and have had a while to figure out its exact mechanics:

it follows a 5 second rule: i refer to it as "forgetting". essentially, if you have not made an action* within the past 5 seconds, it "forgets" what clicking is, and you have to "remind" it by giving it a refresher click. after that, if you click within 5 seconds, it will work fine. any longer, it will "forget" again. this even applies if you're in the middle of a click and drag, and you'll have to let go and then press down again, which invariably results in the system releasing the click-hold (needless to say, i've learned to be quick when clicking and dragging).

*an "action" is here defined as: a click, or a key press that does something (such as command-c, but not just pressing the command key). simply moving the cursor, or scrolling (using a trackpad) does not qualify.

i do use FunctionFlip, and get the console message

"FFHelperApp[295] got kCGEventTapDisabledByTimeout, reenabling tap"

...but the clicking fun continues even after i disable FF

i put this out here in hopes that others can confirm they are having the same "5 second rule" issue i am.

Hey, I did have this problem, and I noticed I had VLC running in the background.

Since exiting the program the problem has gone.

Don't know if it's a specific issue with having VLC open, or certain types of background apps/programs.

Yes, the 5 second thing seems to be true for my iMac as well. I can click as much as I like, then wait 5 seconds and then need to click twice and then it's OK again until the next 5 seconds without any clicks occurring. Wierd!

UPDATE: OK, I think my issue may be similar to the previous poster. I went through and killed most of the apps running on the top taskbar and the issue seems to have gone. The apps were as follows (not sure which one did it, will need to investigate further):

Splashtop Streamer

FaceTab

ServeToMe

DropBox

AirServer

Flexiglass <---- UPDATE2: LOOKS LIKE FOR ME IT'S THIS ONE!

i just found out it was MagicPrefs. after I quit it the effect was gone and everything is working perfectly.

I had an old 1.4.x version written for Leopard so it could be its incompatibility with Lion, there is a new version dedicated for Lion but i don't know if I need it that bad.

it feels so good when the mac listens to every click and cursor movement with no lag!

just discovered it was having VLC running in the background for me that caused it

Anyone found the root cause & how to fix? (a bit silly having to close an app to get your mouse working properly)

Hi, I have the same problem and it's extremly annoying.

Even changing tabs or moving the marker typing this comment I have to click twice.

It appears intermittent and I haven't isolated any cause. A restart helps sometimes, and sometimes not.

Edit: Same problem in both Snow Leopard and Lion.

I'm currently trying a solution I found on another forum, and so far it seems to work for me.

In Lion: System Preferences - Mission Control - uncheck When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application.

I don't know why this would cause the problem, but unchecking the box seems to work, at least for now.

politicalEconomist,

Huge thanks!!

I thought I was going to have to slick my machine and start from scratch, but unchecking "Enable access for assisted devices" worked wonders!

I sincerely appreciate your taking the time to post, and wish you all the best.

This has been driving me absolutely nuts so I am glad to find this thread and know that it isn't my mouse. I have been having this problem with both a Magic Mouse and now a new Logitech MX USB mouse.

As as happened to others here it seems to come and go with no rhyme or reason. Given the suspicion that it is related to 3rd-party apps I deactivated Magic Prefs (a Magic Mouse helper app) and for the moment the problem seems fixed. I have a sinking feeling that it will be back, though. What an odd and hugely frustrating problem!

Just chiming in...

Had this problem too on my MBP (10.6.8), solved as soon as I unticked "enable access for assistive devices" in the universal access pref panel.

The "five seconds rule" was indeed true in my case.

My thanks to those who took the time to reply to this post.

Same problem with 5 second delay - very annoying! I quit DoubleTwist which is the most recent thing I've installed and was running in the background. This fixed it!! Thanks for the clue re quiting VLC and any background apps.

Checking now in Console Messages I see the obvious error:

FYI, I also run MagicPrefs under SnowLeopard 10.6.8 - not sure if its related.

Also had the same symptoms as everyone, including the 5-second rule.

Looked at my console logs and saw:

3/2/13 3:05:12.113 PM Spotify: Media key event tap was disabled by timeout

Restarting Spotify helped. Restarting BetterTouchTool didn't seem to make a difference.

Maybe Spotify messes things when it is restarted automatically after booting (e.g., after a crash). Spotify should probably always be restarted manually after everything else is set up.