How can I 'Copy and Replace' not 'Move and Replace'.

For some reason W7 has decided to change 'Copy and Replace' with 'Move and Replace' when picking a file up with the left mouse and dragging it to another folder where an old version of the file exists.

My Excel SS is in two places: My desktop and USB which I use for backup. I would simply open the folder on the USB pick up the file on the desktop with the left mouse and drag it to the USB folder. Then I would get the message 'Copy and Replace'.. But not anymore it's become 'Move and Replace'.

I know I can 'Copy and Replace' by holding down the Ctrl key but I dont want to.

It looks like there should be a simple answer

Can anyone help? I swear I didnt change anything.

This is a standard behavior in Windows, since much before Win7.
When drag-drop with left mouse button, if the files are put on the same drive, it moves them. If the files are dropped on a different drive, it copies them instead.
No idea what's the rationale behind that, but that's the normal behavior of Windows Explorer, and has worked that way for quite some time.

Slartybart said:

Alejandro85 said:

This is a standard behavior in Windows, since much before Win7.
When drag-drop with left mouse button, if the files are put on the same drive, it moves them. If the files are dropped on a different drive, it copies them instead.
No idea what's the rationale behind that, but that's the normal behavior of Windows Explorer, and has worked that way for quite some time.

I started writing the same explanation, but I read the first post again.

Ukdodger is trying to Drag and Drop a file from the desktop to a USB device.
This should be a copy operation, but it's a move operation on that machine.

Are the mouse buttons somehow reversed?
Look in Control Panel > Mouse and check the button assignments.

I know, you didn't change anything :) This becomes is a process of elimination.
You might also look in Control Panel > Troubleshooting > Hardware > Configure a device
Press advanced and unTick Apply Repairs Automatically
Then read through the list of issues found and decide if you need to apply the fix
(I have some devices intentionally disabled, and I don't automatically apply Windows Updates - those are two fixes the troubleshooter wanted to apply on my machine)

Please provide feedback on the steps you have taken and if they failed or succeeded in solving the issue.

Thanks

Cheers for your help. Well I tried that without result. It didnt find anything that needed fixing.

This happened before a long time ago but for the life of me I cant remember what the fix was. I think it had something to do with where the main file was. I was fiddling about copying from different places. It's infuriating that I cant remember. I did have a windows auto update just before this started a few days ago.

Ah. I just tried the same procedure on my laptop using the same USB. It works as before - 'Copy' not 'Move'. But the laptop also went through an update the same day as the desktop. It's very perplexing.