Elements 2020 clone stamp tool behaving really wierdly

[rjkipp]

Clone stamp tool has stopped working properly.  Alt-Rclick seems to get response (sample circle turns to bullseye) but then get either "area to clone has not been defined" in some cases, but in others a selection is made and I can clone but the selection is in an incorrect area (not the area I selected to clone) and then I can't get it to change. Wierd.  Tried resetting general preferences on launch, resetting tool, resetting all tools. Sampling all layers (problem occurs even when only dealing with 1 (background) layer). I even tried a different mouse. I'm stumped.  Any other ideas? Windows 10.  Latest PS2020 updates. I'm reluctant to upgrade this old version now fearing I'll spend money only to have same problem.  Many thanks for any help.

[hatstead]

You can try a 30-day free trial of the current version of the software to see if this behavior prevails

 as well.

Please note that it is anticipated that a new verion of PSE will be release very soon!

[Peru Bob]

Try this:

Restore default preferences
Preference settings control how Photoshop Elements Editor displays images, cursors, and transparencies, saves files, uses plug‑ins and scratch disks, and so on. If the application exhibits unexpected behavior, the preferences file could be damaged. You can restore all preferences to their defaults.

Note: Deleting the preferences file is an action that cannot be undone.

Do one of the following:

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Mac: Option+Command+Shift) immediately after Photoshop Elements begins launching. Click Yes to delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements settings file.
Go to Edit > Preferences (Mac: Photoshop Elements > Preferences > General), click the Reset Preferences on next launch button, and then click OK. When you restart Adobe Photoshop Elements, all preferences are reset to default settings.
A new preferences file is created the next time you start Photoshop Elements Editor. For information on a specific preference option, search for the preference name in Help.

from here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/preference-file-locations-photoshop-elements.html