Weird leaping mouse problems?

Dave, I use a Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse with a computer running Windows XP Professional. Generally speaking, everything works just fine EXCEPT THAT from time to time my mouse pointer "leaps" to the bottom left corner of my monitor screen .. and invariably JUST as I am about to "click!!"

I've tried uninstalling and re-installing, but to no avail. Do you know how this little dilemma can be cured??

Dave's Answer:

First off, my general rules for dealing with mouse problems:

Your mouse drive may need updating or replacement if it got corrupted.
Your mouse to computer connections may be loose.
Or, your mouse itself may be dirty, so you need to clean it as per your manufacturer's instructions.

Now, let's get into some specifics.

The first thing I would look for with optical mice is any sort of obstruction under the optical sensor. Sometimes dust, lint, or similar impediments get stuck between the optical sensor and the surface your mouse sits on, causing unexpected behavior. My second guess would be a surface that isn't favorable for optical mice. Optical mice have problems on porous surfaces and surfaces like glass. Typically this causes more frequent and obvious problems though. To eliminate the surface you are using as the problem, try putting something like a blank piece of paper under the mouse and see if the problems continue.

If obstructions and the surface are eliminated as problems, Microsoft has a knowledge base article on erratic mouse pointer movement that may help. As you can see in this article, there is more to it than uninstalling and reinstalling the mouse driver. Microsoft Support on Mouse Problems

I have also seen reports of the new Gateway tablets doing this. These models vent hot air through the keyboard. If the lid is left closed when the tablet is docked, the touchpad heats up and causes the mouse to jump around. The only resolution have seen on this is just to leave screen up, though I'd be tempted to leave the unit on ice and see what happened!

As I've said, it's possible that something has corrupted your mouse driver. You can either 1) re-install the driver, or 2) roll back the driver. Either one of these may help. To roll back your driver in Windows XP, go to Start --> Settings --> Control Panel --> Mouse. Click on the "hardware" tab. Select the appropriate pointing device, and click "properties." Click the driver tab, then select "roll back driver."

Under the "hardware" tab, there may be more than one mouse. If this is the case, select the one that is not used, follow the settings above, and then select "uninstall." Or, you can go into Control Panel --> System --> Hardware --> Device Manager, and remove the device under "Mice and other pointing devices." Note: if you are on a laptop with a touchpad that you never use, don't remove the touchpad anyway.

Another possibility is that the driver has a corrupted "jump to" setting. This is called different things by different manufacturers, but is a setting where it moves to the default button when a window pops up. It could be moving to the corner instead of moving to the button. This is also suggested because you note that it is often "when you are about to click." Find this setting under mouse properties (as above) and disable it.General rules of mouse problems:

Hope that all helps you debut your problems!

Thanks to Jeff, Chris Buechler and Tommy Martin for their assistance.

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Reader Comments To Date: 91

Steve Parker said, on May 2, 2005 2:47 PM:

Just FYI, A few of the sites I've worked at recently have "software deployment and auditing software" that periodically "snapshots" the screen to "capture what you're looking at". An unfortunate side effect of this screen cap process is that it moves your mouse pointer to one corner of the screen for each snapshot.

The one I'm most painfully familiar with is called "Altiris". That application does it about once per hour. I've been on a site managed by Zenworks (Novell) and it seemed to do the same thing, but not as often. If I can talk the Admins into getting Local Admin rights to the box, I can disable the Altiris client, and the movement stops... If you can't get Local Admin, you're kind of stuck with the moving cursor... :P

anony-mouse said, on September 16, 2005 7:41 PM:

The moving mouse happens on MOST machines with USB laser mice, it is a known bug. None of the other info above will help your situation if this is the hardware you are using.

manoz said, on October 22, 2005 5:07 PM:

all of a sudden my mouse stops working while iam using the compurter. i see the cursor but the mouse does'not move the cursor whtat do i do? why did it stop working. And when i gone to CONTROL PANEL...>MOUSE...>HARDWARE...>PROPERTIES... the properties button is not selected...even the troble shooting is not working

Anssi Ikonen said, on November 30, 2005 6:25 PM:

I have a weird and serious problem with my mouse... When I start my computer the mouse cursor appears on the screen just as it is supposed to. But when I try to move my mouse, the cursor does not move. However the "ghost" of the mouse moves and I can click and use all the buttons as normal. Only the cursor stays still like it's nailed to my desktop.. I have tried an optical USB mouse and a PS2 mouse with a ball, without luck. Using a mouse without knowing where it moves, is pretty difficult. If anyone can help me, please, email me!

Thank you.

Frank Johnson said, on February 10, 2006 10:57 AM:

I got the same problem like manoz and Anssi Ikonen, the two persons that posted above.
My mouse also stops moving after some random time, sometimes even when i justed started Windows XP.
I never had this problem before but i'am dealing with it for a month already, i can't find a solution. Maybe it's a virus but when i scan my pc with my antivirus there is nothing found, also no spy or adaware is found. I dont like to reinstall my windows, and loose all my software/data. I hope there is another solution.
I would appreciate any help, thank you very much.
Please contact me by mail.

chalid said, on March 9, 2006 11:24 AM:

Hi I have the same problem as Anssi and Frank could you please help me and send me an solution for that problem I tried everything I can I would really appreciate it thank you very much

Pat said, on April 22, 2006 9:44 PM:

Hi Dave
I had the same problem, turns out the mouse pad was too reflective, bought a $0.99 mouse pad that was grainy on the top, worked perfectly.
also tried it on the arm of my sofa and it worked really well...

nick said, on June 2, 2006 1:15 AM:

I have the same issue. It started about a week ago. Some days it works, and others it doesn't. This is with an optical mouse corded. Now I've switched out to a wireless, and it stoped for 1 day. Now it is back, and nothing is happening. I know it isn't the mouse pad for me, because the wireless reciever doesn't pickup on the mouse either. So no matter which I have in, corded or non, it does the same. I pressthe connect button on the reciever, and then the mouse. They are supposed to connect, but the reciever doesn't recognise the mouse at all.

What are my options????

Ivan said, on June 14, 2006 5:31 AM:

Hi,

I have a touchpad mouse and anytime i am typing it moves me from a line to another in the paragraph. even when i am typing in ms outlook it move itself and send the message when i am typing and i didn't put the finger on the touchpad. it is making me crazy and i would really appreciate if you can give me an idea about how to fix it up.
Best regards,

--Ivan.

Charanjit said, on June 21, 2006 1:55 AM:

Hi
I have the same mouse problem. Suddenly my mouse stop working. EVen it is not shown in divice manager and in control panel>mouse>hardware nothing is there. It is not even working in safe mode. WHat should I do? I think I hav some spywares, got on scan.

Neil said, on November 14, 2006 9:43 PM:

I have found with the "ghost" mouse problem mentioned above (pointer graphic stuck, but pointer position/clicks are normal) that turning down the windows graphic acceleration setting helps (you will notice the setting description says that mouse acceleration is disabled on the lower settings). Then I turn it back up on the next restart (until it happens again). This happened only when using a PS2 mouse, USB ones never did this to me!

Rashmi said, on November 16, 2006 3:02 AM:

I have an optical mouse hardware to my pc with windows xp installed. the right click is not working. it is new and hardly 2 yrs since purchased.
kindly suggest for this problem

Keenan said, on November 24, 2006 6:32 AM:

I cant believe how easy this fix was !!! I have been cursing my sticky (rollerball USB connected)mouse for months and the following solved my problem in a few minutes !!

1. Click the start button in the lower left of your screen.
2. select "Restart" from the menu but do not click it yet.
3. unplug your mouse.
4. hit the enter key to restart your computer.
5. Let it start up completely...hit return if prompts appear.
6. plug in your mouse again... now it doesnt work at all ... thats good !!
7. Restart you computer by pushing and holding the on/off button on the computer tower.
8. Restart as usual and the sticky mouse problem should be gone...

When the device was unplugged its driver was automatically uninstalled at startup... when plugged in again the drivers are automatically reinstalled at startup.... Problem solved for me anyway !!

Vodka said, on December 3, 2006 2:36 PM:

I have an issue with my pc/mouse. It jumps to the corner of the screen when I move it, it tries to close windows programs and log me off, I thought it was a virus and in the end Did the drastic thing and formattedd my pc completely and reinstalled mindows xp.

THE PROBLEM STILL PERSISTS! So I have no idea what to do now!!

Bambi said, on January 25, 2007 7:50 AM:

Hi!
My mouse on screen seems to be not working, as when i move the mouse it doesnt move on screen, the mouse is not broken as i have tried several new ones, however, it doesnt seem to be working. do you have any ideas about why it might be reacting like this? i recently dowloaded itunes, but it was of the apple site so this shouldnt affect it. Please help asap as i need my computer for work!
Thank-you!

jeff said, on February 18, 2007 7:37 AM:

Vodka, the problem might not be as complicated I had the same problem and as it turns out the mouse was sensing the wood grain on the desk, so i put a piece of paper under it and it works fine. wierd

Isaac said, on February 23, 2007 3:37 PM:

Hey, my mouse problem is that the computer always highlights a folder/window when I hover the pointer over it. Meaning if I have two folders active side by side, and am working on one folder but slide the pointer over the other without clicking, that second folder becomes the active. This is very frustrating. I tried messing with the mouse configuration but to no avail. I have a WinXP Pro with a dell optical mouse with scroll middle button. It has to be a software issue since I tried using differing usb mouses with same problem. Any suggestions? Thanks

rajeev said, on February 28, 2007 12:00 PM:

Hi,
I installed vista transformation pack on xp.since then , when I double click in explorer, search window comes up instead of openning the folder.
kindly suggest for this problem

peter said, on March 23, 2007 10:33 AM:

I have a Microsoft Optical 2.0 Mouse.

The problem is that it scrolls in the opposite direction on the screen that you are moving on the pad. When I move it up on the pad the cursor moves down on the screen...it's like having to pat your head and rub your tummy..not fun. Can you help?

Scott Nelson said, on May 12, 2007 3:55 PM:

I had a jumping mouse and was ready to replace it. Then AOL quit working so I uninstalled and reinstalled AOL. Mouse got well. At least it is a no cost "possible" fix.

venu said, on July 13, 2007 6:03 AM:

hai in My system windows xp was loaded

when i try to move my mouse , my mouse pointer

not follow the my mouse movement ,it is comming

after some time to requred position.

please help me, what is the solution for this

one.

sig said, on August 8, 2007 9:26 PM:

help needed: arrow pointer has hour glass along with it cannot get just arrow pointer, what can I do to correct this?

sig

Antonio said, on August 19, 2007 8:09 AM:

I have a weird and serious problem with my mouse... When I start my computer the mouse cursor appears on the screen just as it is supposed to. But when I try to move my mouse, the cursor does not move. However the "ghost" of the mouse moves and I can click and use all the buttons as normal. Only the cursor stays still like it's nailed to my desktop.. I have tried an optical USB mouse and a PS2 mouse with a ball, without luck. Using a mouse without knowing where it moves, is pretty difficult. If anyone can help me, please, email me!

Thank you.

Ryanxxl said, on September 15, 2007 3:49 AM:

Hi everyone!

Wel, I'm having quite a weird problem.

My system features:

Operating system: winxp version 2002 servicepack 2

Processor: Intel pentium 3, 801 mhz

Memery: 128mb ram

MY MOUSE OPENS PROGRAMS AND CLOSE OTHERS "ON ITS OWN".

This problem happens after I have reinstall Winxp S.P 2. Note that previously, I have zero my HDD, partitioned it and format it. (I have reinstall Win Xp for a fresh start)

So, it is not a virus, not a trojan.

It is not related to memory coz I before I never got this problem. This problem started after I install winxp after formatting my harddisk. Now, though I have zero my HDD, The problem remains.

I'm having ANOTHER problem. My PC don't shut down COMPLETELY. Though it told me that "now you can turn off your computer safely", My harddisk do not shut down and the GREEN light don't switch off.

My God, Could someone help me. SURELY, IT IS NOT A VIRUS OR A TROJAN .. I think that it has something to do with drivers, windows configuration, etc

Note, winxp has itself installed my mouse by itself!!

shiva said, on October 21, 2007 9:44 AM:

I have a logitech optical ps/2 mouse. I struggling with a strange problem . . . the mouse scrolls very automatically & violently from top to bottom and also horizontally in all applications. I was using the mouse without any problem for last 8 months .. without any paper below it or mouse pad. I also tried re-installing the Win Xp Pro OS suspecting it as virus attack... but same problem persists. Norton antivirus 2005 could detect any virus either. Can any body help me with this?? Do i need to replace it???

Ravenloe said, on November 3, 2007 9:05 PM:

I have this same problem. I lose control of my mouse and can't do anything with it. I end up using my key board skills to navigate my computer. Have scaned computer with various virus spyware malware programs with no help. Someone please help I don't want to have to reformat the whole thing.

Greg said, on November 20, 2007 5:06 AM:

Hey guys
There is definately something wrong in the MS kitchen. I never had the mouse jumping around problem until Vista. Now I have the problem and 5 people I know have the same problem exactly. Jumping around while typing. I have also noticed it jumps out of games and you lose control of the games. HINT: maybe some of the darn MS security crap anyway it is certainly a problem not with the mouse hardware but with the OS. Hello MS!
I may roll back to an earlier version before MS started mandating how I can use my system.

Kaibaua said, on December 12, 2007 2:11 PM:

Hi

My mouse is not work when i open my computer and my mouse is not work but i can not understand this problem.

please help me

SNLocked said, on January 1, 2008 12:44 PM:

Hey, I was searching around for an answer to my problem about my leaping mouse, and I thought nobody else would have an answer, but your site, Dave was the very first one that came up in my results! Thank you so very much for helping me solve my problem!

AM said, on January 14, 2008 11:57 PM:

I have a dell laptop and I also use an optical mouse attached thru USB port.My mouse is either falling down or falling up , it does;nt stay in the center. It has become very difficult to work this way.

steve said, on January 26, 2008 3:14 PM:

Go to Control Panel \ Mouse \ Pointer Options and uncheck the box under that says, "Hide Pointer While Typing." It seems to have worked for me! I love simple and easy solutions.

johnkingsize said, on February 13, 2008 2:24 AM:

my gembird mouse (though evry mouse i tried) dont move a window directly to the desired spot but scrolls it slowly from one point to another as soon as i click it to replace. How to solve it?

hank said, on February 18, 2008 9:24 AM:

Dell Inspiron/2200 Laptop, windows XP
I've had this problem for about a year. Works yes
and no. Obviously curser, when nonoperational will
run off the window. Will lose current window or e-mail.Curser also will jump to different parts of
the letter and create mispelled words.Also had
numbers appear after letters.When typing in password double dots appear at times. Alot of fun.
Replaced keyboard. . Was re-configured.Was
re-set. Nothing worked.My patience is almost
exhausted.Drivers also worked on. I would certainly appreciate your in-put before I dispose
of this machine.
hank thank you. last try...............

MicZ said, on March 16, 2008 9:57 AM:

I saw my problem in these posts but no answer, so I'm hoping you can help: everything working fine when all of a sudden, up and down are reversed like the other poster mentioned...when I move down it moves up, when I move up on the mousepad, cursor moves down - completely opposite to what I expect. However, side to side movements are correct. This is making me crazy. Did numerous checks for virus, spyware, the works...nothing! Tried uninstalling and reinstalling driver - unplugging mouse, etc.

MicZ said, on March 16, 2008 9:59 AM:

PS - Forgot to mention, running XP Pro sp2, no recent updates etc etc...MS Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0

taylor said, on April 25, 2008 6:02 PM:

my mouse wont stop moving

Carlos said, on May 5, 2008 8:07 PM:

Hey i want to comment a problem that it's been annoying me in the past month. i have a dell computer with a wireless mouse(also dell) and the mouse stopped working for some reason is hard to explain but the cursor was going back to the same point on the screen when i tried to move it or making small movements by itself. the first time i deleted the drivers and when plugged it back it worked again but during the week it happened over and over again, restarting the computer or turning it off didn't help at all, i tried to change mouse(corded, another brand) but i still had the same problem. finally i decided to format the computer and that's how i fixed it(the OS was XP pro) BUT NOW this problem followed me to my house .... my home computer(vista ultimate x64) started doing that. my first thought is that is a virus or some problems with an update on windows, but i have no idea what to do ... as i said i tried everything. deleting drivers, updating them changing mouse, running anti virus.
this is really pissing me off. sometimes the mouse starts working after a little while but sometimes it takes hours, and deleting the drivers doesn't help anymore.
i would really appreciate some help

Hello said, on July 27, 2008 12:23 PM:

Hi my computers mouse gets stuck and doesnt work.I need to restart my computer to get it work but then half an hour laterhe does it again

pentium 3 ram 256 996 MHz

Hello said, on July 27, 2008 12:29 PM:

Hi my computers mouse gets stuck and doesnt work.I need to restart my computer to get it work but then half an hour laterhe does it again

pentium 3 ram 256 996 MHz

ROSE AOJA said, on July 31, 2008 7:58 AM:

Very educative site. I will always contribute and share nowledge.

sdutra said, on September 18, 2008 10:16 AM:

I, too am experiencing the freezing optical mouse problem, mostly on HP Compaq DX2000mt boxes. No Virus, No Spy, malware. 1)Update mouse drivers, 2)rollback mouse drivers and 3)reinstalled the correct drivers,I 4)reformatted, with a clean copy of XP Pro and still had the same problem. You can unplug mouse and plug it into another USB and it will reload it's drivers and work again, without having to reboot. There are no errors in Device Manager. It's got me baffled....

Sherwin said, on October 8, 2008 10:26 PM:

guys,

i have the same issue with the mouse leaping to the lower left part of the screen. m using tc4400 and found out that a corrupted video driver (Intel GMA driver for mobile) was the culprit. uninstalling and reinstalling the video driver resolved my issue!

tim dempsey said, on November 7, 2008 9:08 PM:

my mouse while stationary shows a small box then the last sentence or headline i visted please help

Gina said, on February 24, 2009 11:25 AM:

Why would my mouse and keyboard stop working when I turn on my printer? All 3 are usb connected.

makeda said, on March 6, 2009 8:41 PM:

Dave I need help, I moved house and I misplaced the CD for my One Touch 5800 USB scanner. I went on the website and was told that they no longer have the installation CDS. I cannot afford another scanner. Please help me anyone, please.
MAKEDA

Fred B. said, on March 18, 2009 9:37 PM:

While I'm typing, I find that the text moves to the location of the "text select" which might be lying somewhere on the page but is not actively clicked. Any advice for how to fix this? Thanks.

Del said, on March 29, 2009 5:31 PM:

My mouse pointer jumps to the bottom-right corner of the screen by itself. It's a tablet PC with a mouse pad.

I have lots of experience fixing software/hardware problems and tweaking. It's my first tablet pc and it is frustrating nothing worked so far. I formatted the disk and reintalled the system did bios updates and all the firmware and driver updates... Shoot.
Nothing worked. Perhaps it is the Synaptics mouse pad's hardware issue for my case.

mitch said, on April 25, 2009 11:25 AM:

I have a problem with my PC(XP), when i move the mouse a blank outline of that window moves first, then the actual window moves a second later. I even did a CD recovery and it was working find till i intalled my printer. I still have over 200 GB on my C Drive so i know its not a space problem. A friend thought it might be my video card starting to go, please help !!! Thanks

avisek said, on May 4, 2009 1:05 PM:

having problem playing men of war pc game. inside the game the mouse arrow cursor just dont move.
when game is closed the mouse moves normally over desktop. what is the solution?

Joey Luau said, on August 3, 2009 11:52 AM:

My mouse troubles seem to be slightly different than everyone elses. My pointer only jumps into the upper left corner when I click. It always jumps to the upper left and only in certain a program. I've reinstalled this program several times. I've searched all over the interweb and google search. I've tried getting a new mouse, but my problem persists. The program is RPGMaker2003, an older program, worked fine when I had XP. Now I have Vista. Please, any help would be gratefully received.

Felix said, on August 17, 2009 11:31 PM:

Goodday,pls i am experiencing problem with my mouse since yesterday,the mouse is not responding and the4 the pointer is not moving it just only stick to one point hence the computer cannot be formatted.My computer mother is Asrock P4.Am confused help pls.

MouseWithProblems said, on November 10, 2009 10:59 PM:

Hey..... I'm Using A PC (windows xp)

My mouse seems to have a problem...

If i go to Mouse Properties

It writes : Windows succesfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device..... (CODE 41)

Allie said, on December 10, 2009 5:54 PM:

Hi, I have an optical mouse and when you move it the light indicates that it is working but it is not working on the computer. What should I do?

somebody said, on December 21, 2009 12:07 PM:

I have a problem. I use a Microsoft Xp Professional platform with Service Pack 3. I use a ballpoint mouse and lately, it starts moving all on its own! The mouse pointer will randomly start moving at unbelievable speeds and click all over the screen. I `ve checked my computer for viruses and the regular stuff but to no avail. I`ve even rebooted my computer but there is nothing I can do. I`ve tried inputting a new mouse but my computer will freeze. Any help

Warren said, on January 18, 2010 4:50 AM:

Hi Dave

I've been searching the net in depth but cannot find an answer to my problem. I have a Sony flat screen I was running off my nVidia 8800 card throuigh the vga port. My daughter was playing Nancy Drew games fine. I recently bought an Acer 23" wide screen and connected it as the primary screen through the DVI port on the 8800. Everything works fine, except when my duaghter plays Nancy Drew, the mouse pointer is slow & extremely erratic. I used DeviceDoctor to tell me there were newer mouse drivers which I d/loaded & installed, yet still no joy. Worse though, the mouse settings will not retain my left-handed swap of the buttons. any thoughts?

thanks & regards

Remy said, on January 24, 2010 12:22 AM:

I began to have problems with my mouse recently,the pointer was freezing. I decided to remove the ps2 adapter and use a usb port instead and the problem seems to be resolved for now...

leon said, on March 7, 2010 9:05 AM:

""""I got the same problem like manoz and Anssi Ikonen, the two persons that posted above.
My mouse also stops moving after some random time, sometimes even when i justed started Windows XP.
I never had this problem before but i'am dealing with it for a month already, i can't find a solution. Maybe it's a virus but when i scan my pc with my antivirus there is nothing found, also no spy or adaware is found. I dont like to reinstall my windows, and loose all my software/data. I hope there is another solution.
I would appreciate any help, thank you very much.
Please contact me by mail.""""""""

i have this problem too :( i buy new mouse but i cant fix the problem .Please contact me by mail.

selvakumar said, on March 11, 2010 2:40 AM:

Respected Sir/madam,

i have a problem in my computer... i installed XP operating system.. when i opened a microsoft word the cursur is moving on up and down...... if any ome know how to solve this problem please inform me............

vyshisht said, on April 23, 2010 9:44 PM:

I have a problem with my mouse, which causes any application screen like internet explorer or VLC player move up and down or horizontally intermittently and very frequent. If i unplug my mouse, it stops. I have even tried to clean my optical USB mouse. But no go. Please advise me.

hhh said, on May 26, 2010 12:15 AM:

more than 30 persons claims mouse problem

no answer

what a support site !!

Dave Taylor said, on May 26, 2010 1:52 PM:

hhh, the reason I haven't answered each question is that there are a LOT of reasons you could be having problems. If you're on a touchpad, for example, it might be buggy. You might have a bad driver, you might have bad hardware. Your connection on an external mouse might be flakey, etc etc.

One test to try, if you are on a touchpad:

1. go to control panel
2. click on mouse icon
3. go to the device settings tab and disable the touchpad.

See if that helps!

Jeroen said, on June 15, 2010 10:51 AM:

Hi everyone,

Since a few days, I've been having this weird problem with my mouse. When I'm clicking the left mouse button and holding it down (for instance to scroll or firing a weapon when playing a computer game) it suddenly stops working. Clicking the left mouse button works fine, but holding down the button to do certain things not. It's really weird, never had this problem before.

I'm using a Razer Deathadder.

Thanks!

Carole Dickson said, on July 21, 2010 11:23 AM:

I have Windows Vista and use a wireless Mouse - all of a sudden when I try to scroll up - the curser keeps returning to the bottom of the screen - I am unable to open folders and documents because the curser will not stay in place. I have tried rebooting, reinstalling drivers, Virus Scan, and Microsoft troubleshooting - nothing fixes the problem so My computer is pretty useless. Everything worked for the 1st 8 months and now stopped functioning properly

Emma said, on September 4, 2010 2:19 PM:

I tried to get online on my older HP laptop, and got a message that a phone dialer (something called Hot As Hell), has taken over my modem. Neither the touch pad or mouse will work now, so I can't click to get online. How,if possible, can this virus be removed? Are there any software programs I can use? Please help! Thank you. Emma.

Brett said, on September 7, 2010 7:30 AM:

I also have a weird mouse cursor. It seems to randomly take of in different directions when I got to move or click. I am running an ASUS P5Q 8600 processor 4gb ram and twin velocer raptor 10,000 rpm drives on raid 1. motherboard and vista ultimate(Black edition) I have tried numerous mice and reinstalling different drivers but I can't shake this prob. I thought maybe a hack or virus but netstat shows no out of the norm connections. I have installed Norton 360 v4 and hav found no nasties. I am stuffed if I know what the hell is going on somtimes it is like I am fighting someone else for the rights to the cursor direction. the closest I have seen is someone saying there cursor jumps to the start button but mine wil take off in any direction. I have been fixing other peoples pc's for years but now I am at wits end I have never seen this prob before and the worst is that it is my bloody pc that has the prob. Cheers Brett

Helen said, on October 8, 2010 1:46 AM:

I have recently installed series 7 on my laptop and sine then my mouse had gained a mind of its own - whilst typing it moves and begins typing in the middle of previous words or repeat a copy and paste twice or just increases the size of a document whilst i am no where near the slider or icon on navigation bar.

Jeroen said, on October 8, 2010 7:31 AM:

I also had a mouse behaving wierdly and tried reinstalling the drivers, replacing the mouse etc.
The problem turned out to be very simple: I had a graphic tablet attached to this computer and the pen of the graphic tablet was lying on top of the tablet! Removing the pen solved the problem.
So if your mouse behaves strange and you have a graphic tablet, maybe it's the tablet!

Nikos said, on October 24, 2010 2:51 AM:

As soon as i removed a graphics component from my MoBo the problem was solved!!

wakenbake said, on March 8, 2011 9:08 PM:

Whats up!

I am having a problem with my mouse while running men of war. when it loads the mouse icon does not appear to move and stays at a spot in the lower left hand corner. The icons on the menu light up and i can navigate as if the mouse icon was operating like a GHOST... any ideas as to why it wont work? ive downloaded patches, reinstalled, disabled and reenabled my drivers and still no fix... PLEASE HELP!!! Thank you

Dominico said, on May 25, 2011 1:30 PM:

can I suggest that no more problems are posted as no one is providing answers!

Janie said, on July 7, 2011 4:38 PM:

FIXED - I had the same issues with erratic mouse movements and I had tried everything I found on the Internet and nothing worked. I finally decided that I had recently installed a Plantronics blue tooth headset on my laptop so I disabled it and Viola everything worked again and no more mouse issues.

rainhard said, on July 25, 2011 9:56 AM:

Try StopMouseJumping to fix this problem
http://www.stopmousejumping.com/

Nina said, on August 20, 2011 3:12 AM:

I have a second hand computer from my work. I bought a KVM switch and a new HP 2 button mouse.

When I start the computer, the mouse does not move (there is a red light in the mouse). So how do I even get into the computer.

Amy said, on August 25, 2011 7:59 PM:

I have a weird mouse jumping problem, and I THINK I just solved it. The mouse would jump to the bottom left of the screen and open whatever program happened to be there. I have a Dell tablet (Windows 7), and I changed the N-Trig settings from DUAL to AUTO (for the pen). I hope this helps someone!

gabriella said, on August 29, 2011 10:28 AM:

Some mice respond to intimacy: my mouse straightened up with a hot breath across its bottom and a wipe with a cotton cloth.

sonya said, on September 8, 2011 7:14 PM:

Hi I'm having a REALLY weird mouse/internet problem... it's actually the opposite of what usually happens. It seems that my internet only lags when my mouse or keyboard are not in use. For instance, I'm on a facebook game, it appears to be frozen, but as long as I move my mouse continuously it works. The moment I stop, it's as if my internet has frozen up... It has been happening all night with other things like downloads and page loads. Any suggestions as to what could be causing this???

Jody said, on September 21, 2011 8:33 AM:

99.9999ⁿ% of the time it's because the user doesn't have their touchpad disabled when using a mouse. The area on the palm between the wrist and the thumb will repeatedly hit the touchpad and make the mouse jump. people will repeatedly swear that they did not touch the touchpad but somehow ehen the touchpad is disabled the problem magically goes away. I guarantee that most of the people in this forum are suffering from the same issue of a short-circuit somewhere between the computer they are using and the chair they are sitting in. Brighten up people. Not everything is as techy and involved as you thought.

Emma said, on September 22, 2011 11:17 PM:

Thanks Jody, after cleaning my mouse, trying it again, wiping, trying it again, cleaning, tapping, trying again... i read your post... i had popped a receipt over my touchpad. (I do feel stupid much?!) Thanks for making me 'brighten up' and have a good hard look at myself!!

prasan rai said, on November 7, 2011 4:25 AM:

i'm having problem with my mouse...at begining it moves normally..but after sometime it doesnt move..and then it moves..and then dont..m irritated with this.

Beth said, on November 25, 2011 11:05 PM:

I have been having the same problem, from the mouse freezing up to moving the cursor to different places while scrolling with the mouse and when you click on what you are wanting to click on it opens something you do not want to open, it also will randomly open and close what you have up on your screen.

I got a new mouse and it would work for a day before freezing up again. Can someone please help?

grimes said, on November 30, 2011 7:49 AM:

I had the same problem today with a WinXP machine. Tried 2 USB mice, and also through the ps/2 port, but nothing worked.

For some reason, under mouse>>>hardware, there were two mice there. One was under "location: com port 1" I disabled this mouse, and left the other one there (location:0)

solved the problem!

FYI, some tips on getting around the screen without the mouse...TAB will jump and highlight stuff in windows. Shift+TAB will jump back. The spacebar will check/uncheck boxes.

Good luck!

VEER said, on December 1, 2011 6:37 AM:

When i travel in train at that moment the Mouse touchpad in laptop is not working.
I have experienced two to three times.

When i am out of train it is working proper.

What is the Tech Reason behind this?

Share...

j.kishor said, on January 2, 2012 3:25 PM:

hi sir,
i have a problem in my sony vaio laptop.in my lap the files are not copying and not moving from one folder to another and one drive to another. please help me sir my e-mail id is jajirikishor@gmail.com please sir...

Phil said, on January 22, 2012 5:21 AM:

Regarding minor movements of wireless mouse.

I had the same problem here with a wireless mouse making small movements on its own. Fix was to replace the two aa batteries. Problem resolved.

Phil said, on January 22, 2012 5:24 AM:

Regarding wireless keyboards dropping letters (keys) while typing. Same fix, replace the battery.

craig said, on January 23, 2012 9:04 AM:

If the mouse pointer has become erratic, try removing some other usb devices, if you have more than nescessary. The usb hub may be drawing too much power.

rahul said, on February 3, 2012 2:06 AM:

how to virus work to effect the operating system
..........................????????

caro said, on June 18, 2012 5:23 PM:

Hi there.
When I press left hand side of mouse nothing happens - when I press right hand side a panel comes up with all of the alternatives that can be used. The mouse seems to have gone crossed over. Help!!!! New mouse, but did the same on the old one.

John Carslake said, on September 4, 2012 1:28 AM:

A few days a go I purchased a Gembird optical wireless mouse. All was well until now (less than a week later) when, after switching on and plugging in the receiver, the cursor was moving at right angles to the mouse movement: ie up/down by the mouse became left/right on the screen. I have tried using the mouse sideways but it is not very convenient. This is being used on a Lenovo laptop running Windows 7. Do you ahve any ideas?

praveen kumar said, on September 20, 2012 11:23 AM:

hi i have a problem with my Mouse i am not able to sign out from my mail since my mouse is not working in the particular band in the screen of any mail like Google searching location & sign out in G mail & in Yahoo also what should i do? please give soln to me

praveen kumar said, on September 20, 2012 11:28 AM:

hi,
I have a problem with my mouse it is working perfectly, but when in entered into web page like google, Yahoo, G mail it is not working in searching row & i can not able to sign out from my web page what should i do?

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Weird leaping mouse problems?

Reader Comments To Date: 91

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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