How to stop erratic mouse pointer/cursor behavior?

October 16, 2012 4:31 PM

Without warning, my mouse pointer has developed a mind of its own. It drifts across the screen and activates (clicks on) whatever it is hovering over. I disabled the touchpad and this behavior still occurs with a USB mouse. I'm running Windows 7. It is still happening in Windows Safe Mode.
posted by Bushmiller to computers & internet (5 answers total)

How old is your mouse? I had a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000 that I used for years with Windows XP, but when I used it with Vista and Windows 7 it starting exhibiting some bizzare behavior (like not letting me click on drop-down menus - I actually wrote an AskMe about it because I thought it was my computer that was acting up). I found out the mouse/driver wasn't compatible with the new OS and I ended up having to get a newer mouse.
posted by littlesq at 4:44 PM on October 16, 2012

Have you changed your mouse pad? Sometimes the surface you're using will cause your mouse to behave badly.
posted by patheral at 4:46 PM on October 16, 2012

Oh, sorry I didn't catch that you were having issues with pointer behavior regardless if you were using a mouse or not. What type/how old is your computer?
posted by littlesq at 4:47 PM on October 16, 2012

Make sure Mouse keys isn't running. (Search control panel for Mouse keys). Install Microsoft's Intellimouse softwe, which may update the driver. Scan your computer in Safe mode with Malwarebytes and Bitdefender.
posted by cnc at 4:49 PM on October 16, 2012

Problem solved, I think. The children found my wireless multimedia keyboard (still connected to my computer via wireless dongle) and piled a mountain of books on top of it. I keep the keyboard behind the television, so I had no idea they found it. Once I unplugged the dongle it seemed to stop the behavior. I should have caught that sooner. At least I hadn't yet disassembled my laptop's keyboard and touchpad assembly.
posted by Bushmiller at 5:02 PM on October 16, 2012 [6 favorites]