thanks to this thread I was able to fix the annoying bug I received when upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10 -- holding right and left click at the same time would result in zoom. Very frustrating while trying to do rocket tricks. xorg.conf had said 3buttonemulation was off, though ubuntu seems to keep it on all the time. I found an unconfirmed bug report about this, then the following fix.

Here's how to fix it:

Open the terminal and type:

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sudo gedit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/3buttonsemulation.fdi

Paste the following:

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
    <device>
        <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.mouse">
            <match key="info.capabilities" contains_not="input.touchpad">
                <merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">false</merge>
            </match>
        </match>
    </device>
</deviceinfo>


save and exit.

back to terminal:

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sudo /etc/init.d/hal force-reload

You may have to unplug and replug your mouse to see the results.

much thanks to hyperair for providing this.

How troublesome!
Kyre suggested something similar: http://forums.alientrap.local/viewtopic.php?p=48471#48471

I wonder if that method handles touchpads like this appears to do?

oh well damn. If only I knew about that thread earlier, I could have saved myself some days of frustration