I bought a Microsoft Optical WheelMouse last week from a Microsoft outlet in Singapore. After installation, I found Windows Explorer does not respond and hangs, and when I try to shut down the computer the screen darkens (like usual) but nothing happens. CTRL-ALT-DELETE in both instances says the program is not responding and I end up having to restart the computer. When I remove the Optical Mouse while the computer is turned off, the normal mouse responds quite well. I repeated the reinstallation but the same thing happens! The troubleshooting guide recommended uninstalling all pointing devices but when I physically remove the Optical Mouse and connect my old mouse, it automatically reverts to the standard mouse driver on Control Panel and the Wheel Mouse driver is inaccessible. Any advice as the Optical Mouse costs ten times a normal mouse!

This problem could be caused by one of two things. Firstly, the physical mouse could be somehow defective or, secondly, it could be the drivers at fault (which is my suspicion). Let’s first find out which one of these factors is the problem. Plug the Optical WheelMouse into your computer and boot your computer into Windows safe mode. You do this by pressing the ‘F8′ key when the ‘Windows 9x…’ message is displayed just before the Windows splash screen and on the boot menu that appears, select ‘Safe Mode’. We can now check to see what is at fault and also (hopefully) resolve the problem through Safe Mode. As Safe Mode doesn’t load any unnecessary drivers, it should just load the generic mouse driver. If the same problem occurs in Safe Mode as in normal Windows, then it looks like the problem is a mouse defect as only generic drivers for the mouse have been loaded thus we can say that it isn’t the drivers at fault. In this case, I suggest that you contact Microsoft to see if you can get a replacement. However, if the problem ceases in Safe Mode, then it looks like the mouse drivers may be at fault. Now would be the perfect time to go into the ‘Mouse’ control panel and remove the Optical WheelMouse driver as the troubleshooter suggested. Once you have done this, reboot your computer and when Windows loads, it may ask you to install a new mouse driver. If it does, try installing just a generic mouse driver. Although this may not give you all of the features the Optical WheelMouse drivers, it should at least make your mouse useable. If all this fails, I suggest you contact Microsoft technical support. However, before doing that, have a look at the page www.microsoft.com/australia/support/non_chargeable.htm to see if you are eligible for non-chargeable technical support. I would also like to apologise for the delay in responding to your question.