It happens if the file is already highlighted in Windows Explorer and if it is left-clicked again, or if the user double-clicks on the file and the double-clicks are interpreted as two single clicks.

First the bad news: There is no option to disable the left-click renaming feature in Windows. There are however settings and options that may help prevent the situation in first place.

The easiest option is to left-click on the icon and not on the name if the file or folder is already highlighted in Windows Explorer. This will never trigger the rename and is usually the safest option. I’m not sure why someone would like to left-click on an already highlighted file again but there are users apparently who do that. Highlighted files and folders can also be opened with the enter key.

The majority of problems seems to stem from double-clicks on files and folders that are interpreted as single clicks by Windows. This could indicate that the double-click speed of the mouse is not configured properly. A click on the Start button, then Control Panel and there Mouse opens the mouse properties where the double-click speed can be configured.

The slider needs to be moved closer to Slow in the configuration window to increase the click time between left-mouse clicks that are interpreted by Windows as a double-click.

Another option available is to switch from a double-click to open items to a single click. This can be changed in the folder options. A click on Tools > Folder Options in Windows Explorer opens the menu where the setting can be changed. Items are from that moment on opened with a single mouse click which prevents the renaming to trigger.

Those are the options available to prevent that a left-click on an item renames it in Windows Explorer. Have you found another solution? Let us know in the comments.

A left-click puts the cursor at that position without selecting the full URL while a double-click would select the full URL instead. This can be achieved by changing two parameters in the Firefox configuration.

Type about:config in the location bar and filter for the parameter browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll which defines the behavior of a left-click in the location bar. The value is set to true by default which means that everything is selected when left-clicking in the location bar. A double-click changes that value to false so that a left-click no longer selects the full URL.

The second parameter changes the behavior of the middle-click. The parameter browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll is set to false by default which means that a middle-click will not select all of the URL in the location bar. A double-click changes the value to true so that the full URL is selected from now on when middle-clicking on a position in the location bar.