Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T431s Left Mouse Click Does Not Work When Disable Trackpad For Cursor Movement

As a confirmed trackpoint user, having the mouse built into the trackpad of the T431s is causing me all sort of grief, including sore wrists - but there are two problems I can't seem to diagnose.

1)  When clicking the pad for left mouse click, it often does not work until I click it a few times.  I notice this more when I disable the trackpad for cursor movement (which I had to do because the cursor moves when I try to click) - but its there even when that is enabled.  It comes and goes.  I guess there could be some foot trapped in there, but I've only had it a week and been pretty careful.  I'd rather not learn to remove the keyboard on day 6.  

2) The right click gets into a condition where, when browsing,a click brings up a new tab of the link I clicked on, rather than showing me the options (open in new tab, incognito window, save link, etc).  If I connect a real mouse, it is normal.