Control Click issue - not mentioned in other posts

Hi Everyone,

Experiencing a really annoying glitch with the trackpad.

CONTROL+CLICK works fine if I do it on the desk top (brings up the usual menu of New Folder, Change Background, etc)

However if I'm in a folder (for instance, Downloads) and I want to right click on a file (to bring up the menu with Open With... etc) I get nothing! A single click works to highlight the file. Double click works to open it. But I can't CONTROL-CLICK on it.

Have I turned some off setting to make it do this? Have tried many variations in Trackpad to try to fix it, but nothing seems to work. For instance I made secondary click TWO FINGERS. But same story, works on the plain desktop, but the minute I try to click on a file or folder...nothing.

Any advice appreciated. Cheers.

OSX 10.6.8