# Help! Why is my mouse/cursor so sensitive and twitchy all of a sudden. Make it stop! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833 "2007-08-08T07:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833/1 "2007-08-08T07:23:55Z")
About a week or two ago my PC mouse/cursor became supersensitive. It started highlighting huge swaths of text at the slightest move, and did all sorts of unwanted and unexpected reformatting at the lightest click. I hate this. What gives? Did I flick a switch somewhere that I can unflick now? I want it to behave the way it used to. Any ideas? NOTE: I did some computer housecleaning around the time of the change. I ran a tune-up program that was intended to find and correct errors in my files, registry, etc. Could this have triggered the change? Thanks all, in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833/2 "2007-08-08T08:14:19Z")
You might want to look at the Mouse applet in the Control Panel, and fiddle with the settings there. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833/3 "2007-08-08T12:21:36Z")
Check to see if there’s a hair caught in the ball (assuming it’s not an optical mouse) and clean the rollers. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833/4 "2007-08-08T12:43:55Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Check to see if there’s a hair caught in the ball … [/QUOTE] I hate when that happens. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833/5 "2007-08-09T04:26:51Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Check to see if there’s a hair caught in the ball (assuming it’s not an optical mouse) and clean the rollers. [/QUOTE] There are products available at your local pharmacy that will aid in keeping your balls clean and hair-free. Try rubbing alcohol to clean the rollers and the ball and the little feet that the mouse slides on (optical mice have these feet too, but no balls). If you have an optical mouse, you might have problems with a light colored woodgrain desk. Mine has been jumping around all over the place since I switched to this desk and I haven’t had a chance to get a mousepad. If that’s your situation, try sliding the mouse around on a sheet of white paper and see if the problem goes away. ---
**Author:** ![Suda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@Suda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suda)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833/6 "2007-08-09T06:12:40Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Check to see if there’s a hair caught in the ball (assuming it’s not an optical mouse) and clean the rollers. [/QUOTE] Even if is an optical mouse, hairs occasionally stick over the little camera confusing it, I’ve found. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-why-is-my-mouse-cursor-so-sensitive-and-twitchy-all-of-a-sudden-make-it-stop/414833/7 "2007-08-09T06:32:56Z")
Yep, my optical mouse goes crazy if there’s a bit of hair under it. But the OP’s issue seems to be more about clicking than moving the mouse…