When moving the mouse cursor across the screen it is very difficult to move and click on icons. It almost feels like some kind of magnetic field is trying to prevent my cursor from moving! At first I thought this may have been a virus on the computer, but extensive scanning has given the computer the all clear. How can I fix this problem? The computer is running Windows XP.

We need to determine whether this problem is a hardware problem with the mouse or a software problem on the computer. The best way to test this theory is to connect a different mouse to your computer. As you may not have a spare mouse you might need to ask a friend whether you can borrow their mouse for testing. Should you find that the problem does not occur when a different mouse is connected to your computer then the problem appears to be a hardware problem with your mouse. Some of these hardware problems are fixable so there may be some steps you can take to fix the mouse. First, if you are using a ball mouse make sure the ball chamber on the back of the mouse is clean. After many years of rolling the mouse the chamber in which the mouse ball rolls around can accumulate a large amount of dust, clogging the rollers which direct the on-screen cursor in response to mouse movements. You can usually remove the ball from the mouse allowing you access to the ball chamber for cleaning. I suggest you get an old towel or rag and give the chamber a good dusting. Do not use any cleaning materials or solvents when cleaning the ball chamber as you could damage the sensitive electronics and sensors within.

However, if you have a relatively modern computer then the more likely scenario is that you have an optical mouse. These do not have a ball but instead rely on optical (LED or low-powered lasers) sensors to track mouse movement. These are much more accurate and sensitive than ball mice, which is why they have superseded the old style of mouse. One issue with some optical mice is that they do not track properly on particular surfaces, such as highly reflective surfaces (as it can cause problems for the optical sensors). I have also had experience with optical mice not tracking properly on pale coloured matt finished surfaces. So, if you are using an optical mouse the surface upon which the mouse is being used could be the source of the problem. To test this theory, try placing something underneath the mouse such as a piece of paper to see whether that resolves the problem. Conversely, if you currently have a mouse pad (or like) underneath the mouse then try removing that surface and track the mouse directly against the table surface instead.

If you find that cleaning the mouse ball chamber (in the case of a ball-mouse) or changing the tracking surface (in the case of an optical mouse) does not fix the problem then it seems that your mouse does have a hardware fault. In this case you will need to purchase a new mouse. There is a plethora of different mice available, ranging from expensive high performance gaming mice to more reasonably priced mice for the average home user. A standard corded optical mouse will cost you around $25 and if you wished to upgrade to a cordless mouse, which I recommend since they are quite convenient, this would cost you around $40. Be aware, all new mice are generally USB mice so make sure that your computer has enough ports to support a USB mouse, especially if your computer is an older generation machine which may have a limited number of USB ports.

The above has dealt with the situation where the problem did not occur with a different mouse connected to the computer, indicating the problem was hardware related to your mouse. However, we now must deal with the situation where the same problem occurred with the different mouse connected. This indicates the problem is not with the mouse itself, but with your computer. Before considering the situation that something is wrong with the software installation on the computer, particularly something awry with Windows itself, we need to consider whether there is hardware problem with the computer. A possible culprit could be the port to which the mouse is connected to the computer being faulty. If you have a USB mouse connected to the computer then try connecting the mouse to a different USB port on the computer. If you have a PS/2 mouse connected to the computer (i.e. a mouse with a small, round connector) this would be more difficult since most computers only have one PS/2 port which is suitable for connecting a mouse. In this situation you can’t really test the theory well. However, the next best test which you can run is obtain a USB mouse and connect that via USB to the computer (because if the USB mouse does not exhibit the same problem it seems that the issue is with the PS/2 port as the USB port does not have the problem). In either case, should the problem not occur when swapping mouse ports then the problem should be relatively easy to fix by simply plugging the mouse into a different port.

However, should you determine there is no hardware problem with the computer it seems that the problem is Windows-related. We need to first check whether there is a background process which could be interfering with the mouse. To test this theory we will close all processes that are running in the background to see whether the problem continues. In Windows, close all visible running programs including those running in the Windows system tray (next to the clock in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen). Once all visible programs have been closed we will need to close hidden processes running in the background. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to open the Windows Task Manager and click the “Processes” tab. Click the “User name” column heading to sort the processes by user name. If the user name column is not visible go to the “View” menu > “Select Columns” and tick “User name”. Once the processes are sorted by user name close all processes except “explorer.exe” (the Windows GUI) and “taskmgr.exe” (the Windows Task Manager). Once all processes under your user name have been closed check whether the problem is fixed. If so, then one of those processes was obviously causing the problem. In this situation restart the computer, so that all the processes start again, and then repeat the procedure above by closing the programs and processes one-by-one, each time checking whether the problem continues or stops. Once the program stops you know the most recently closed program or process was the one causing the problem and you can take further action, such as uninstalling that program, to prevent the problem from continuing in the future.

Should the problem persist even after closing all the processes running under your user name there could potentially be a more significant problem with Windows which is interfering with the mouse. As such, you should next try running the Windows System File Checker (SFC) utility. This will scan the computer for any missing or corrupt Windows system files and replace these with known good copies. To run the SFC utility go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “sfc /scannow” (without the quotes, and mind the space between the “sfc” and “/scannow” portions of the command). The SFC utility will immediately commence operation and start scanning the computer. Be aware, you may be prompted for your Windows XP CD during the process if new copies of files need to be extracted from the CD so make sure you have this CD handy. Once the SFC utility has finished operations it will exit silently with no user feedback, at which point you can restart the computer and check whether the problem continues.

A repair installation of Windows XP may be necessary if the problem continues. A repair installation of Windows is designed to replace all Windows system files with new copies, while leaving your data intact. However, be aware that things can (and do) go wrong with such procedures, so before attempting the repair installation make sure that you backup all important irreplaceable data (such as documents, email, etc.) that you wish to keep just in case things go wrong and you need to recover your data. Should you wish to proceed with the recovery installation, follow the excellent instructions provided at michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm. I suggest that you print these instructions so you can refer to them during the repair installation process.