[pchelpers] Re: plus pointer freeze
- From: Scott McNay <wizard@xxxxxxxx>
- To: Louis M Hall <pchelpers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 20:50:45 -0500
Hi Louis,
Monday, June 28, 2004, 8:18:00 PM, you wrote:
>> Is it the mouse freezing or is Windows freezing?
LMH> [The pointer freezes on the screen. I have not switched to another mouse,
LMH> as yet. When my pointer freezes, I can't seem to do much unless there
LMH> are keyboard strokes for making things happen. When there is a freeze
LMH> up of the pointer, as I remember, the keys are ineffective. On occasion I
LMH> have just turned the computer, off to on, and the reboot fixes things.
If the keys are ineffective, then Windws is frozen, not just the
mouse.
>> If the mouse seems to be frozen, shaking the mouse should cause the
>> pointer to move slightly. If not, then Windows is frozen, not the
>> mouse. Do all of the standard clean-ups, including malware scans.
LMH> [Yes, shaking allows me to come to life on fourteen our of fifteen times.
One
LMH> out of fifteen, I just reboot.
Hmm, maybe you have a shorted wire after all. If you don't already
have another mouse handy, try reinstalling the mouse driver. Go to
Control Panel, System, Device Manager, find the mouse, then click
Update Driver. If that doesn't help, click Uninstall Driver, then,
after it's uninstalled, if you have a USB mouse, unplug it and plug it
back in. If you have a PS/2, serial, or bus mouse, press Alt-A, use
arrow keys to go down to "Scan for hardware changes", and press Enter.
LMH> [I did a search of malware, came across a spyware detector that said it
LMH> would search for spyware, ad ware and malware. I've got some software
LMH> on the system that checks out spyware. Do I need more? What is malware?]
Malicious-ware. Spyware, viruses, worms, etc.
LMH> I feel like I should do a mouse substitute soon, to determine if this
problem
LMH> is mechanical. If I find it is, should I just go buy
LMH> another mouse, or take advantage
LMH> of the three year warranty on this Dell computer.
Is the mouse covered by the warranty?
I like optical mice because there's no ball to get dirty, and it's not
so picky about what you roll over (ball mice are picky about
low-friction surfaces, while optical mice are picky about featureless
surfaces). Overall, optical mice seem to be better; no moving parts
to get dirty or break.
I like wireless mice because there's no wire trailing across the
deaktop, and no wire bending back and forth waiting to break. I've
had, I think, two mice die due to broken wires, which is what your
problem sounds like. On the other hand, you have to replace the
batteries (rechargeables are great for this) every once in a while,
unless you have one of the dock models. Those, of course, you have to
put into the dock in order to charge up.
--Scott.
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