Why does the mouse pointer jump around the screen?

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I have had this same problem for years over a number of computers (and mice). The mouse suddenly takes off, quickly in an upward direction usually leading to the top left, then spirals quickly around the screen to the right, then down and then inward to rest nearly in the middle of the screen. And it all happens way faster than my hand could move. I call it the psycho mouse.

It has happened to several computers I have at home but has not happened at work. Could it be related to the fact my house is near a radio tower?

should we remove batteries from cordles mouse and keyboard when not in use

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For day to day use, no. If you're not going to use the
device for many days or weeks, then sure. But even if you
don't it'll probably just drain the battery slowly.

Leo

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It's not optical mouse problem. I've got old ball-mouse and the same problem. I've bought new optical mouse and the prblem still exists.

Everyone in the office here has just received new mousemats with our own branding on it and 3 of us sitting beside each other have experienced erratic cursor movement straight away. The mat has a shiny plastic finish to it. My previous mat has a kind of textured cloth covering which worked fine.

Someone else here mentioned cell phones interfering with mice, and I can confirm that this is also true. It affects my USB mouse if the phone is on top of the mouse cable on the desk. The cursor moves in a straight line upwards in small jittery movements when the phone rings, just like how you would hear the interference in a speaker.
Makes you wonder what else a mobile phone could interfere with! (you really *should* turn them off on airplanes!)

I just have it when the mouse jumps to left or right or bottom left or right corners. Sometimes it jumps between the corners, top bottom, left, or right. And when it jumps it presses mouse buttons. Most of the time it's nothing, other times it's a left click but its also done the right and the scroll button (which is annoying)

I tried leaving the mouse disconnected over night the hooking the batteries up again and turning on the PC. I've tried using the mouse on the computer desk vinyl, even using my hand as a mouse pad :( I think I'm going back to the balls.

My laptop is only 3 months old and I am having problems with the cursor jumping all over when typing etc. and if I move it across the page it turns the type blue. I use the touchpad not a seperate mouse (same problem occurred with wireless mouse)

I looked in my Device Manager on my computer. Under the "Mice and other pointing devices" I noticed that there was a mouse that I didn't use so I uninstalled it and it fixed my problem.

Note: If your mouse problem is really bad, here are some keyboard only instructions:

1. Use the windows button + pause/break to go to System Properties.
2. You should then be able to use TAB and the arrow keys to get to the hardware tab.
3. While on the hardware tab, press TAB until the "device manager" button is highlighted and then press ENTER.
4. In Device Manager, press TAB once and then use the arrow keys to navigate down to "Mice and other pointing devices"
5. Press the right arrow to expand the tree.
6. Highlight the unused mouse and then press Alt+A and then press U to uninstall the mouse you are not using.
7. Press enter to confirm the uninstall.

This is a crude method to do it but it worked for me. This may not solve everyone's problem but it's worth a try. Good luck!

This problem can happen if you restart the machine with RS-232 active communications (a serial cable plugged in that is transmitting data). The mouse will appear to jump around and click even after disconnecting / disabling the mouse. Once the communication source is disconnected the jumping will stop. This is due to Windows looking for a pointing device and finding data on the com port. Microsoft details how to fix this here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/131976.

This is just one possible yet annyoing problem.

I found out why my cursor started jumping around the screen... The person in the next office got a new portable computer with a wireless mouse -- which my remote mouse sensor "sees" -- and the cursor follows her movements... So far I have no solution.

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