# Mouse pointer freezing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288 "2012-07-24T21:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/1 "2012-07-24T21:56:39Z")
I know there are many computer mavens here and I need some help. Recently my USB mouse started freezing up for a second or two once in a while. It started less than a week ago but now it can happen several times a minute and sometimes does not respond until I press Ctrl-Alt-Del. Sometimes that doesn’t even work and I have to unplug the mouse and plug it back in to regain control. This is very annoying. I went to the device manager and let the computer search for a mouse driver update and of course it doesn’t find anything. I’m running WinVista Home Basic SP2 on a Compaq Presario desktop. What could be the problem? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/2 "2012-07-24T22:02:14Z")
The first thing I would do is: Press Control-Alt-Delete, and open your Task Manager. Click the Performance tab, and look at the graphs and see if either the green line or the blue line is running at or near the top of the graph. If one of them is, click the Processes Tab, highlight your browser, and close it. ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/3 "2012-07-25T01:45:42Z")
How will this help? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/4 "2012-07-25T01:56:49Z")
Is this a wireless mouse? If so, it may need a new battery. This happened to me with my wireless mouse and it took me a while to realize the answer was that simple. ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/5 "2012-07-25T03:18:18Z")
No, it’s not wireless. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/6 "2012-07-25T03:22:51Z")
You might try going directly to the mouse brand website, i.e. Logitech, search for the model you’re using and then download any drivers. There also might be a forum for the problems you’re having. Or perhaps it’s Vista. I really hated that platform. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/7 "2012-07-25T03:35:49Z")
Have you added any new USB devices around the same time as this problem started? If so, and if possible, you might try plugging one of the devices into the front of the PC and the other device in the back. Or else, if there’s no other device, just try moving which USB port the mouse is connected to. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/8 "2012-07-25T03:37:06Z")
> [@Thin\_Ice](#): > > How will this help? If either physical memory usage or CPU usage are maxing out, all other processes will slow or stop. That is a common culprit making the pointer hang. It is an indicator that some process that is running is blowing too much memory, and shutting down that process will lessen the load. (Press Control-Alt-Delete, and open your Task Manager. Click the Performance tab, and look at the graphs and see if either the green line or the blue line is running at or near the top of the graph. If one of them is, click the Processes Tab, highlight your browser, and close it.) ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/9 "2012-07-26T13:21:33Z")
I’ll check out your suggestions. Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/10 "2012-07-26T13:55:09Z")
Turn the mouse over and pull the strand of hair out of the cubby hole that the laser sits in. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-pointer-freezing/629288/11 "2012-07-26T18:23:55Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > Turn the mouse over and pull the strand of hair out of the cubby hole that the laser sits in. Yes, this, or, if it does not work, maybe try plugging the mouse into a different USB slot, or if that does not work, just replace the mouse (maybe you could borrow someone else’s mouse first, just to see if it has the same problem). This sounds much more like a hardware than a software problem to me. The OS gives a lot of priority to mouse printer movement. In my experience, even in software crashes where everything else on screen freezes, the mouse pointer often continues to move normally.