How to Keep Your Old Roller Ball Mouse Alive!

Trying to click something and wanting to smash your mouse into a million pieces? If you have one of the standard ball mice, you are not alone in your frustration. Ball mice are horrible things that unfortunately many of us still have at home or at the office. Your typical ball mouse will work just fine for about 2 months before you start noticing something has gone terribly wrong. Simple tasks like clicking that red X in the upper right of your window become 3 second long struggles of desperation. I know 3 seconds doesn't sound like a long time but try it now. Take your mouse and try to click on the period at the end of this sentence for 3 seconds. It doesn't do ANYTHING! That is what you experience with a ball mouse a few times a minute except it stops short of the X or overshoots it in strange jerky shifts.

I have tried many home remedies to fix this problem and I have found 3 ways to remedy this situation.

1. Clean the rods and wheels.
Unscrew the bottom plate of the mouse and take the ball out. Look inside the hole and you should see 2-4 rods or wheels that will spin and move if you touch them. If your mouse is acting odd, chances are there is gunk, lint, crumbs, or who knows what stuck to those rods and wheels. You can scrape them off with anything small and sharp. Fingernails work also. Do NOT use a pen or pencil or more stuff may get on them. If you have the time, you can put some alcohol on a Q-tip and try to rub off whatever may be on the rods and wheels.

2. Wash the mouse ball.
This is often overlooked but even 1 drop of coffee or soda can completely coat that little ball that is the heart of the mouse. Windex, Alcohol, or any solvent will work great to clean it off. Dry it with a lint free cloth of your choice and it should be fine. If you have slammed the mouse many times, check for dents. One decent dent and it's history. Roll it around your desk to see if it rolls evenly.

3. Wash or replace your mouse pad.
Mouse pads are like sponges and they suck up dirt, drinks, crumbs, lint, dead skin, etc.. A good way to check the cleanliness of your pad is to put a kleenex tissue on top of it and set something heavy on it. Wait 5 minutes and look at the tissue. If it isn't completely clean, wash the pad or replace it. You can clean it just like the mouse ball with windex or alcohol. Make sure it is free of dents and you should be good to go.

Using the above steps, this should give your old ball mouse a much longer life and cause you much less frustration. I'd recommend getting an optical or laser mouse as they work much better. The only drawback to the optical and laser mouse is they are much more delicate than a ball mouse so please don't slam them around.