# Mouse pointer twitches, jerks, and sticks... no matter the mouse



## Anjalena

I've been having this problem for at least a couple of months. I'm terrible with time so it could be 4 or 5 months, or 2. (i'm disabled, and memory/focus/concentration are all off the menu... sorry) NO! This has been going on for a LONG time... it's just gotten worse over time. I just realized that. It started with my combo wireless Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 6000 v3.0 and accompanying mouse. Which is why I got my Microsoft/Razer Habu. I play World of Warcraft and the little bobbling was getting on my nerves so I switched to a gaming mouse. Thought the problem was the crappy wireless Microsoft mouse. The keyboard has always been great though.

My mouse pointer is frustrating to control... and that's putting it mildly. Accuracy is in the toilet. Trying to point to one spot on my screen is like asking a sugar-hyped kid to play statue... it ain't gonna happen. Sometimes the effect is mild... just jiggling or twitching around in a little centimeter'ish area... maybe smaller. Sometimes it convulses around the top right of my screen... that was the worst case when I was trying to mess with the settings for the Habu software... turning down the sensitivity (and the L/R sensitivity too) which made my mouse pointer move like a snail of course so I had to fiddle with other settings. I also tried removing the software completely and I think that's what made the Habu go insane. 

Also, it's doing this "catch" or stick thing whenever the mouse stops for more than a split second... so like when trying to point to a specific spot, takes time and patience, because the jiggling makes me have to go really slow, and then whenever the cursor sticks, I have to shake my mouse around to make it "unstick" and then try again.

As far as the control panel mouse settings, I'll go through each tab.
-- Buttons: Nothing's checked. Double-click speed is a little below half.
-- Pointers: Pointer shadow is off
-- Pointer Options: Pointer speed fast 100%, pointer precision on.
Hide pointer while typing on, nothing else checked.
-- Wheel: 8 lines at a time
-- Hardware: Shows 3 devices... herein probably lies my problem. I do have a Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet (the original kind) installed though it's not plugged in right now. And the Habu is plugged up and but I'm physically using the Microsoft wireless mouse. Why neither of them are listed by name, I don't know. I've tried uninstalling them and rebooting, and it still comes back up that way. And even when the Habu software is installed, it still shows up that way. HID-compliant mouse for both, and then Wacom mouse (which I don't have the actual mouse... but I assume the pen shows up as a mouse? still, I just got that tablet in November or December of this last year. My mouse pointer troubles have been going on far longer.).

I'm not sure what else to include that won't be in the Belarc.doc attached to this post. I can't find anything online about this... I've looked. But then I lack in the research department. I'm so incredibly frustrated, you just have no idea. I hope someone can help me. The only thing I can think of is a Windows repair, or a format and reinstall, at this point. I know it's about that time anyway, but I was waiting til my Dad sent me my new copy of Windows 7. He's slow as molasses though, so no telling when that'll be.

(btw, World of Warcraft doesn't show up in my list of software or in the section with the software keys...which i deleted of course... but i don't know why. just thought it was odd.)


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## sandman55

Hi I know you have tried other mice but are you swapping the same batteries into the new mice because a low battery can cause that.
Have a look at what this guy says
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/why_do..._optical_mouse_leap_around_in_windows_xp.html
in particular about other equipment interfering with your mice (I don't know if a mobile phone will do that) also he mentions about speech recognition software can cause this. Here is Leo's link 
http://ask-leo.com/why_does_my_computer_go_nuts_sometimes.html


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## Anjalena

I'll go read those now. About the batteries though, no. The Habu is wired... doesn't need batteries. =(

As far as other equipment, I've wondered about that. I do have a cell phone, but it's just a little tracfone pay-as-you-go thing... it's the Motorola W376G, I think it's called. But I usually don't have it in here... it's almost always in my fanny pack (i hate purses.. heh). And I just got it a couple of months ago. Before that I didn't have a cell. Otherwise, I have a cordless phone and the base is right here on the desk with my computer. It's a Uniden DECT 6.0. Also, I have a Logitech 5.1 Speaker set and I've had my subwoofer up on the desk for a couple of years since I got it. I just recently moved it to under my desk. (about a week or two ago) But still having the same problems. The speakers (Center, Front Left and Right) are on the wall behind my desk, and the Rear Left and Right are on the ceiling behind me. I also have a Seagate Freeagent external harddrive on my desk as well. It has been there for at least the last year or so. Oh, AND, I have a wireless network in my house. I guess that's the proper name to use. My computer is the base, so I'm wired completely. But the router and DSL modem are here in my room. My roommate, in the other room, and my 20 year old son, when he visits, are the ones who use the wireless aspect of the network. Hope all that information helps. I didn't think to add that stuff in to the original post... sorry, I forgot. =(

Oh, and a bit of unrelated, trivial info... Nice large snowstorm here in Maine. I'm loving it! =)

Thanks. I'll go read those articles now.

Holly


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## sandman55

Hi with the wired mouse all that gear shouldn't bother it. I googled for those links and your problem is a common one with many causes according to what I read also one of the causes was infected with a virus is your virus protection up to date? Another was from someone playing tricks by putting a program on a PC that can cause that. Anyway read those links and I hope they can help.

While you are warm inside protected from that snow storm we on the other side of the world Australia are expecting a hot 38C day tomorrow.


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## Anjalena

Okay, well, I checked my Speech Recognition. From what I can tell, it seems to be off. The only thing listed in there are the two different keyboard set types, US and Dvorak. My son prefers Dvorak. There's nothing mentioned about Speech or Text or anything. 

I also tried checking text-to-speech. The "Speech" tool in Control Panel only has 1 tab. At the top is a little icon with 2 people's heads and a little box with a check in it. But the box is grey and I can't click it. In the first box, Microsoft Sam is chosen, but the settings button below it is greyed out. 

BUT, I do remember that my son gave me this program a while back called Dragon Naturally Speaking. It was nifty but I never use it. I'm gonna try uninstalling it. Don't know if that could be the problem but since I don't use the program, it can't hurt to uninstall it.

Also, my mice, both of them, are laser mice. Don't know if that's considered Optical or not. But I do have 2 cats, one of them long haired. But I keep wiping off the bottom of the mouse, but it doesn't help. And I don't have any q-tips right now so i dunno how to get in there and clean the laser.

Oh, as far as mouse pads. I've tried 4 different things. I was using this regular mouse pad with kittens on it. Cloth top. Then I tried my black mouse pad... totally black, cloth top. Then I tried NO mouse pad, just my desktop surface... which is scratched all to hell so I figured the differing wood shades might help, but no. Now, I'm using a home made mouse pad. I'll give the link to the article I used to make it.

http://paulstamatiou.com/the-best-gaming-mouse-pad-youll-ever-make/

Gonna go uninstall that program now.


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## Anjalena

Neither of the original articles helped. =( You said you googled for some stuff? Where? What program was it that caused all that? You didn't say. And yeah, my virus protections is up to date. I use Avast. It updates at least once a day, sometimes several times a day. Ad I've scanned for malware and found none. Though I only have Spybot installed. Is there an online scan I can do somewhere? Might come up with different stuff.

What are the causes? Is there an article that goes through checking each cause and fixing them?


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## Anjalena

Buhh, no replies? Nobody has any idea how to help me? =( 

Wow, I can't believe how sleepy I am. I'll check back again tomorrow.


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## sandman55

Hi Anjalena I saw your post earlier today but didn't have time to reply When I googled I said something like "Help my mouse jumps all over the place" and I did it now and I got 53,100 results though a lot wouldn't be relevant. http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&q=H...r+the+place&start=50&sa=N&fp=7a26cf05b207e4b8 
This link 
http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-95/mouse-jumping-all-over-screen/121136.html
talks about the [email protected] virus or one of its variants though that may not necessarily be the case and as you say you could try an online virus scan.
Trend Micro's House call will not only search for a virus it will also try to remove it just be careful when you let it install the software that you don't actually install trend micro like my daughter did so read it carefully. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

If you are infected then report back here because we have people trained to help in that area.

I think you said earlier you checked to see if there is any cat hair around the little red light under the mouse but to be sure have you tried the mouse in another computer?


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## sandman55

This link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321122 might be helpful especially where they talk about uninstalling any mouse software for mice not used in case there is a conflict.


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## Anjalena

Hey! Thanks for getting back to me again. =)

My son tried one of the two mice in his laptop, but I can't remember if he said it did the same thing, or not. I'll ask him next time I talked to him. He's got D&D this weekend, so pretty much not gonna be able to chat with him until Monday or Tuesday. *laugh*

I'll look through the other stuff you linked and let you know if I find anything virus-wise or if anything helps otherwise.

About the software conflicts, the Razer/Microsoft Habu has software but it's not installed right now. I uninstalled it hoping it would help, but it didn't. The wireless Microsoft mouse that came with the keyboard didn't have any software, just drivers... but the frustrating thing is that when you install the driver for the keyboard, you have to install the driver for the mouse too... I hate when they do that. But I did uninstall that mouse driver a while back since I was using the Habu and not the wireless one. So the only mouse driver that's installed is the one for the Habu.

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me go through all of this. It's been such a frustrating problem, and obviously not a clear-cut solve. Thank you so much. =)


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## sandman55

No problem Angelina I'm not an expert just an enthusiast I'll try to help and if I'm not successful maybe one of the experts will look in. By the way drivers are software too but it sounds like you have sorted that if it turns out that the mice didn't work properly on your sons computer then we can suspect the mice and first look to see if the cat got some hair around the red light under the mouse. We have a cat and it's hair is invasive and very fine.


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## Anjalena

Still clueless.

Just spoke to my son and he said he did try my Habu on his laptop and was having kinda the same trouble. I asked "kinda"? and he said it wasn't as bad on his computer. So he's thinking environmental issues... i.e. cat hair. But I bought some Q-tips, made sure to remove any loose fibers and kinda smoosh/wrap the rest of the fibers around the tip, and then dipped it in a little alcohol to get it a little damp, and then cleaned both laser lenses. it didn't help. i did remove the Dragon Naturally Speaking program... a clean uninstall... and that didn't help. I renewed Avast cuz apparently they upgraded and I didn't have automatic software updates on (the auto virus updates has always been on though)... I had no idea I didn't have the software updates on. I had problems removing version 4.8, and later had issues trying to install 5. And at one point, it wouldn't let me install Avast at all. And then when I finally got it installed, it wouldn't work/turn on. I knew then I must have a virus... at least one. I finally was able to get Avast 5 installed and working and did a full, thorough scan. I had 15 viruses!! I had it delete them all and it said it was successful. I have made sure to turn on auto updates of both the virus database and also the program. I also have it set up to do a thorough scan once a week. I don't seem to be having other weird issues I was having, probably due to the viruses, but I'm still having the problems with my mice... despite cleaning the lasers, cleaning the viruses, and removing that program. I'm gonna do another trend-micro scan just as a backup to make sure Avast got everything. After that, I'm clueless. I don't know how else to go about cleaning the mice. I don't SEE any hairs or dust in there. =(

And the mouse is sticking more now than it was. Like it used to "stick" until I made a large movement with the mouse and then it would move again. Now, it's sticking "harder" so that sometimes even sliding the mouse around really fast doesn't unstick it right away.

Thanks again.


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## sandman55

Hi Anjalena I had this all typed out about 9 hours ago but we had a clap of thunder and the power went off and then I had to go to work :4-dontkno

Well if it was my computer I would at this stage backup my data and do a reinstall of XP but I don't know your capabilities of that so there are other options the first being to read this http://www.techsupportforum.com/f50...-posting-for-malware-removal-help-305963.html and get some help from our trained experts

I would imagine as you would have corrupt files that after they have cleared your computer of malware that they would get you to make a slipstream disk 
http://www.winsupersite.com/xp/sp3_slipstream.asp

and then get you to run SFC /SCANNOW from start run as shown here http://www.pcug.org.au/boesen/SFC/SFC.htm


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## Anjalena

Thanks a ton, Sandman.

My Dad finally called a few days ago and said he'd mailed the Windows 7 DVD and I've been working on backing up my C drive. Hopefully by this time next week, if my health will get better, I'll have a freshly formatted hard drive, a new installation of 64 bit Windows 7, all my drivers installed and updated, and all my programs re-installed. I hope. =)

Also, I am making that XP+SP3 disc and doing the sfc scan (as soon as I can look at the screen long enough without getting dizzy and sick), just so that hopefully my pc will last long enough for me to get my files backed up. It keeps freezing on me. =(

OH, also... my son brought his Death Adder home and it works fine. No drivers or software installed. I have no clue. I cleaned my mice as best I could with q-tip and alcohol and it didn't make any difference. BTW, both of my mice are laser mice, not optical. (but as the Death Adder is a gaming mouse, I imagine it's laser as well... so I don't know if that really helps solve anything)

Thanks again! :heartlove


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## sandman55

No problem Anjalena I hope it all works out maybe you will have to shave your cat :grin: here is a write up on the differences between laser and optical mice http://www.ehow.com/about_5395093_optical-vs-laser-mouse.html


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## Anjalena

hrm.. so I could possibly benefit from an optical mouse over a laser mouse. I game, but I don't play FPS's, which is where I think all that sensitivity and dpi resolution is probably most necessary. I play WoW, but I don't really PvP much due to health issues that slow my brain which causes me to suck at it. *laugh* So I don't really know if I need all that extra sensitivity. I do, however, want the extra buttons. At least the Left and Right buttons, middle wheel... and maybe 2 thumb-side buttons (buttons 4 and 5). Those 2 extra buttons are very helpful for additional key bindings in WoW for me. But I don't know if they make any optical mice with extra buttons. Seems like they're mostly used in typical Windows applications and I dunno if that calls for extra buttons too much. Do you know of any optical mice with a couple of extra buttons?


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## sandman55

Hi Angalena I don't game and I use a Logitech MX500 optical wired mouse it has the two extra thumb buttons for forward and back a scroll wheel also with up & down scroll buttons and there is an extra button that I haven't bothered to alocate a task my mouse is old and there are newer models I would wait till you reformat and see how your mice go.

Here is a link to Logitech mice it seems a lot are laser but the sensitivity possibly can be adjusted (I have no experience with laser mice) http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/&cl=au,en

Here is a link to Microsoft mice http://reviews.cnet.com/mice/?filter=1000036_5260109_


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## dalsquared

Hi Anjalena,

I don't know whether this is too late now, but I've had the very same problem, and solved it by simply changing mouse pads, from the new, shiny modern one to an old, beat up piece of junk I had laying around. No more jerking, no more sticking, no more unwanted mouse behavior of any sort. Maybe this will help...


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