Wandering Mouse/pointer with a mind of its own!

jomomang

I have a Sony all in one computer, about 3 years old.

When it's 'waking up' and sometimes when there's a couple of programmes open and operating (especially iTunes) the mouse/ pointer has a life of its own for a while - probably up to about 30 seconds. It's really irritating.

I've scanned it with anti-virus software, which is saying it's clear. It has lots of free memory, 312 GB of 455 GB free.

Can anyone suggest how I can stop this happening and is it a symptom of a larger problem?

skeg289

Error could be the mouse itself, try replacing with a known fully functional one as see if problem removed! I had a similar problem and this fixed it.

paddyrg

Probably a hardware thing - look for crumbs, shiny surface, low battery

LHW99

Also check the underside of the mouse - sometimes small hairs can get across the part that detects the surface its on, and this causes the problem.
I generally fish them out with a small pair of tweezers (very carefully)

mttylad

Wireless mouse? Change the batteries.

Oblivion

A bit more information would be helpful. What kind of mouse are you talking about ... a mouse pad on the computer, or an external mouse.


If it's an external one does it have a physical trackball underneath because they are the worst at gathering up dust and depositing it on the internal sensor. If so, remove the little hatch underneath and remove the trackball ... clean the ball and with a pair of fine tweezers remove any hairs and dust from inside.

tavernman

this ?

Nilrem

If it's a separate mouse, turn it over and inspect the optical sensor, giving it a good blow.
Optical mice can and do show some very odd behaviour if you get a hair under/on the lens of the optical sensor.

jomomang

Thank you for all your replies. I particularly like danger mouse!

I am currently using an optical mouse, but had the same problem when using a rollerball one.

Because it only seems to happen when the computer has either been inactive for a while, or is very busy (ie when iTunes is being used), I feel it's something to do wih the pc rather than the hardware. However, I will try the suggestions given re swapping batteries, trying a different mouse and giving the underside of the mouse and the mouse mat a good clean.

Once again, thanks for all your suggestions.

GunJack

jomomang wrote: »

When it's 'waking up' and sometimes when there's a couple of programmes open and operating (especially iTunes) the mouse/ pointer has a life of its own for a while - probably up to about 30 seconds. It's really irritating.

this is more likely that the CPU is maxing out at these times, and this is often a symptom of that happening. Check Task Manager, there's probably too much running with not enough system resources to handle the load...

never mind hard drive space, what processor and RAM are in the pc?

eddddy

I had similar problems with an (ageing) all-in-one pc. I found it was the touch screen causing the problem - not the mouse.

I just disabled the touch screen, and now use the mouse all the time.