Why does my computer go nuts sometimes?

Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed for comments on this article.

THANK YOU!!!!

I thought it was a virus, but after installing two virus protection programs, strange text still appeared in all sorts of programs.
When finally checking the processes that were running and finding SAPISVR.EXE was always running when these texts appeared, I finally found this page and now understand what was happening.
(I actually feel a bit stupid now....)

Never mind..
Thanks again,
Walter

Hi, looks like sapisrv.exe is not the only culprit causing havoc. Occasionally I notice the mouse move erratically and when it does, it apparently clicks, double-clicks or right-clicks whatever it hits on the path very quickly. Preferred positions are top right or bottom left -- guess what that does. Could be something with the logitech optical wireless mouse, not related to interference (living in the country) or low batteries. I found some rather unconclusive description with MS knowledgebase, nothing with logitech. Does anyone have the same trouble?
Rolf

I too have a problem with XP Home, I have an eMachines T2085. I am using a 2 button mouse yet all of a sudden it acts like it has a scroll button on it and will move to the top or bottom of the page. I used to have the problem with closing IE and would have to shut down my system to get it to stop. Never did know if sapirsav.exe was the problem or not, I did an upgrade to XP and it stopped. The mouse though still goes nuts every once in a while. It is a wired mouse BTW.

Another possible cause for unexpected mouse movement is dirt, especially for optical mice. Dirt can get the position detection logic confused. Make sure that the optical components are clean on the underside of the mouse, and that the surface yuur mouse is on is free of dirt & dust.

More here: http://ask-leo.com/my_mouse_is_super_sensitive_and_seems_to_do_things_on_its_own_what_do_i_do.html

I had the same problem with my optical mouse on my main PC. The cursor would snap to the left, left mouse button would hold down so it would choose icons on the desktop, open them...just wouldn't stop. Thought 'virus' :(

I'd just built my dad a PC, a shuttle system, which was sat on top of my shuttle system. Thought...interference, seeing as though the Virus Checker showed nothing and I didn't have the SAPISVR.EXE installed.

After much pulling and plugging I turned off the backlight on my Packard Bell electoluminescent keyboard I was using to test his PC. I pushed the little button and everything went back to normal! I pushed it on again and the mouse on the main PC went wild again!

Weird :D

I've had the same setup for the last week but only today has it done this. Ah well...glad my mouse isn't up the swanny :)

Hi,I just wanna say THANK YOU for helping me out with that useless SapiCrapi microsoft thing. I deleted it from 2 sources because it kept on freezing IE and MSNMess. and other stuff. But it always came back, now its dissabled. I didn't know where to go before to disable it. Thank you so much,
Alen

My wife was just complaining of the same problem with her optical mouse. She had recently purchased a new mouse pad. The pad had areas of extremely dark and extremely light patches. After a careful investigation I found that when the mouse transited the dark/light areas, the cursor would jump.

Solution, wife converted the mouse pad to a deckle!! (Something to set your hot coffee on!)
George

Yes, it is Windows XP sp2 that is causing sapisvr.exe problems, among others. i removed sp2 and still had problems. i think i will go ahead and delte sapisvr.exe as i have no use for it. but i can see that the sapisvr.exe prefetch was modified with my removal of sp2. some kind of punishment from microsoft? the windows updates were a big mistake.

iam running windows 98 second edition and it sometimes freezes on me would u know why and how i can prevent it?

There are so many possible reasons that there's no way to say "this is it" without a much closer look.

I would start with: anti-virus scans, anti-spyware scans, and a visit to Windows Update to make sure you have latest drivers and patches.

To post a comment on "Why does my computer go nuts sometimes?", please return to that article's main page.