Windows Remote Desktop from Mac – Correct Right-Click behavior?

When doing a remote connection to a Windows desktop from my Mac, the right-click behavior does not translate correctly. I am using a standard Windows-style mouse, with two buttons, and I have changed the setting on my Mac to set “Secondary click” to “Click Right Side”.

The right click sort of works, but it doesn’t behave the way Windows actually expects. Based on my own testing, it appears that the “secondary click” on the Mac is sending both a right-click and a left-click. Sometimes this doesn’t matter, and it works just fine. For example, if I right-click on the Windows desktop, I get the pop-up desktop options menu just as I would expect. But as a counter example, if I right-click on a link in my web browser, I would expect a pop up options menu to appear. However, because the Mac is also sending a left-click, instead of the options menu, the browser actually follows the link as though I had clicked it. This happens in any case where doing a left-click would result in taking focus away from the item being clicked, whereas doing a right-click would not.

I do know that I can “force” a right-click but holding down the Control key while clicking, but this isn’t ideal. Not only does it require extra work, but since the Control key has functionality within Windows, it can sometimes have unintended side-effects.

Is there a way I can change a setting so that right-clicks on the Mac are exclusively right-clicks, and are not also left-clicks?