# Have you seen this virus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 22, 1999, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228 "1999-09-22T00:48:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/1 "1999-09-22T00:48:00Z")
My mouse pointer has suddenly gotten all goofy. It looks like a tube of lipstick most of the time, and whenever I get it near something clickable (program or button, whatever) it disappears and reappears anywhere from a little bit to a couple inches away. Needless to say, this is making getting anything done very difficult. I can sometimes click on things if I move the mouse very slowly. Is this any virus you have heard of? And do you have any ideas for a cure? I ran McAfee with no luck. It just seems too whimsical to be a simple malfunction. * * * “Eppur, si muove!” - Galileo Galilei ---
**Author:** ![omniscientnot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a5b964/32.png) [@omniscientnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omniscientnot)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/2 "1999-09-22T02:12:00Z")
Gaudere: Could be simply that the rollers (I’m sure there’s a more _technical_ term) inside your mouse are dirty. Have you tried unscrewing the bottom, taking out the ball and looking at them? If you notice dirt, you could use a Q-Tip or even your fingernail to remove. Then again, it could have strictly nothing to do with this. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/3 "1999-09-22T03:48:00Z")
I cleaned the mouse; I didn’t think of that before (duh), thanks. However, I still can’t click on anything. It’s getting really tiring "tab"ing everywhere. Sometimes if I open a ton of apps it seems to distract it, and the mouse works Ok for a while. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/4 "1999-09-22T06:19:00Z")
I assume you’re running Win95 or 98. It sounds like a strange mouse driver is loading as Windows starts. This probably isn’t a virus, but a Trojan you got from some downloaded program. First check the date on your McAfee data files (Help/About) and update them when you find out that they’re old. Yes, they will be old. ☹ That’s not the problem, most likely, but do it anyway. Then go to [http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000YKL&b=](http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000YKL&b=) and try the “Startup Cop” utility there. I haven’t used it, but the PCMag utilities are usually pretty good. The page says you can save a profile first (so you can get back if necessary), then disable any mouse drivers you find. ## Good luck! Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/5 "1999-09-22T10:28:00Z")
Did you download a desktop theme from Microsoft? I saw a theme listed that displayed lipstick and other things of that nature. You could be running this theme and have a bad mouse, but no virus. You can pick up a cheap mouse, or borrow one to check this out. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/6 "1999-09-22T13:54:00Z")
Sounds a lot more like a mouse problem than a virus problem. The jumping mouse cursor is often caused by a hair caught in the mechanism. If you can’t click, it’s most likely the button has worn out. Buy a new mouse and you should be fine. * * * [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/7 "1999-09-22T14:33:00Z")
Thanks for your advice. It’s not that I _can’t_ click, it’s that I can’t get near enough to a button _to_ click. The mouse is less than a year old, but it’s conceivable that it’s worn out. Have you ever tried to download a virus scanning progarm when you can’t click on anything? I could tab around for a bit, but there were radio buttons that needed to be selected and I **could not do it**. Fortunately I had a thought and switched from the mouse to my wacom art tablet–ah, I can click again! I think the mouse driver problem sounds like the most likely explanation, since my mouse is new (and freshly cleaned) and I never download desktop themes. I can grab my mouse from work to check though. Thanks a lot for your help, and if anyone else has any ideas, let me know. * * * “Eppur, si muove!” - Galileo Galilei ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/8 "1999-09-22T15:25:00Z")
First, I would take the mouse of out of System. Disconnect it from the computer, restart, it then asks for you to connect a mouse, do so, & finish. Also run the SFC.exe [system file checker] to make sure your system files are straight. ---
**Author:** ![StStella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@StStella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StStella)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/9 "1999-09-22T15:55:00Z")
Gaud, I’m assuming that you have rebooted your PC. Not just a soft boot, but actually shut down and then turned your PC off and back on to reset hardware. I have seen something similar and it was actually a little exe that someone sent me that turned my mouse pointer into a little penis- but looked a lot like a lipstick. The only way I could get the program to stop was to reboot. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/10 "1999-09-22T22:05:00Z")
One other thing to check. A mouse may work as you discribed, if it shares an interupt with another computer device. The most common conflict is with a modem. Check out your interupt asignments in the system properties programs in the desktop. Select “computer” and click “properties”. Your interupts are under the heading “setting”. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 1999, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-this-virus/8228/11 "1999-09-23T03:44:00Z")
Well, I went for the shotgun approach and checked the drivers, properties, ran more virus scans, unhooked the mouse, rebooted, shut off the computer, rehooked the mouse… …And it worked!!! I have control over my mouse again! I sure hope it stays that way, but it’s never gone this long without any problems since I got this bug, so it looks promising. I can’t thank the person whose advice actually fixed the problem, since I have no idea what specifically did it out of the things I threw at it. But all of you–omniscientnot, rjk, Phobia, RealityChuck, StStella and handy–have my boundless gratitude for your helpful advice. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 🙂 * * * “Eppur, si muove!” - Galileo Galilei