0 Computer Electromechanical And Optical Mouse-Maintain And Keep Them Fit Without Problems-Part 1

In this post, I am going to tell you about some of the real working ideas from my experience to help you maintain your computer electromechanical (with trackball and buttons – mechanical parts and circuitry) and optical mouse (with light generation system, sensors for movement detection, buttons and click assembly – mechanical and electronic circuitry). I have used both electromechanical and optical mouse so far and this post covers the tips to maintain these two types of mouse.

Mouse is an important input device that makes working on graphical interface easier through moving the cursor, clicking the icon to select it, entering the input through press of a button and drag and drop etc. Imagine working on a GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen with menus, options, icons and operations that needs clicking, dragging and dropping and finding that when you drag your mouse, it goes haywire in some other direction Or you can doing single click and double click happens Or you are right clicking on desktop and none of the menu is appearing and similar mouse activities that stops working suddenly or works intermittently. These types of erratic movements and stopping of mouse operations happens normally due to dust and dirt in your mouse buttons, ball (in electromechanical mouse), sensors and scroll wheel assembly.

Here are the tips to maintain your PC mouse (electromechanical and optical) and keep it fit without any operational problems:

1. Don’t Let Dirt And Dust Go Inside Your PC Mouse

Keep the computer operational area clean and dirt free. Don’t eat and drink at your computer desk and cover the computer and mouse when not in use. The idea here is not to let the dirt and dust go inside the computer mouse (there are gaps between the mouse left click and right click buttons, scroll wheel (at top) and at the bottom – track ball and light sensor.

2. Use A Good Quality Mouse Pad and Keep It Clean

Don’t use a mouse pad that is crumpled and slippery or if you are directly operating a mouse moving it on your computer table (without a pad) then ensure that the surface is plain and clean. Operating an electromechanical – track ball mouse on slippery surface is bound to give the user problems in using it.

The mouse pad that I got with my Dell Vostro 400 didn’t turn out to be of good quality. It was very thin and got crumpled (making its surface like a tiny mountain) in few days. Also the mouse pad should not move when you move your mouse on it (if the pad is moving, stick it to the desk surface or wherever you are placing it).

3. Maintain A Small Preventive Maintenance Schedule

Everyday or may be alternate days, check your mouse and its pad and clean both of them with a good quality soft cloth (that doesn’t leave threads while cleaning or when pulled slightly) with little isopropyl alcohol on it (the cloth should have cleaning solution to make it moist enough not to be dropping from the cloth). Oh! Make sure that the computer is powered off when doing this cleaning operation on your mouse and mouse pad.

Use a mouse cover to put it on your computer mouse when it’s not in use for extended hours.

4. Be Nice And Gentle With Your PC Mouse

Your computer can sometimes malfunction due to some software or hardware issue while you are using your mouse in a program or installing new untested software on your PC. Don’t blame your mouse when your computer freezes and the mouse stops responding. I have seen people banging their computer mouse on the table even when their PC mouse is not responsible at all for the problem (Examples- Surfing not happening despite clicking on Refresh, response slow on an online GUI form leading to slow cursor movement and unfamiliarity with using the mouse in a drawing and editing software etc. – expecting a mouse operation whereas the SW doesn’t support that)

Banging your mouse hard can damage its mechanical (plastic casing, buttons, track ball, scroll wheel) and electronic parts – sensors, light generation and detection and printed circuit board.

The probability that even after you follow the above tips, you will have to clean the mouse from inside is high as some part of dust and dirt definitely will definitely go inside a computer mouse through the small gaps.

So, in next series of this post, I will write and show how to clean an optical mouse from inside. The internal cleaning may have to be done once in few months (3-6) depending on the volume of dust and dirt at your computer’s work environment.

I am sure that though the tips for maintaining your computer electromechanical and optical mouse are simple but they are definitely effective. Let me know if I am right

Did these tips help you at all? How do you maintain your computer mouse? Let me know.

Take care of your mouse – computer one and not the real one