cannot use mouse in MS Word or OUtlook

I am having a problem with MS Outlook that retrieves mail through MS Exchange. I have noticed that when writing a new email, your ability to use the mouse to right click, left click or click and highlight text no longer works. I have traced the issue back to not using “MS Word as your default e-mail editor” option. This seemed to fix the issue in Outlook. Unfortunately the problem exists in MS Word 2003 as well. Your mouse is essentially useless in the text area of the document.

Other users that operate in the same manner haven’t noticed this issue.

I have tried uninstalling MS Office and reinstalling did not solve the problem. WE are using roaming profiles as well, so maybe this problem is following the users around.