Optical Mouse Oddities?

My optical mouse (Logitech) has been acting up over the last couple of months, in the form of imprecise cursor control (what else would a mouse do wrong?). For a while I was using a mouse pad, but once it got dirty and wore out I decided that my mouse would probably work on my table just as well. However, this added another twist onto the previous symptoms.
Originally, the problem would appear when I attempted to move the mouse in a diagonal, particularly up and to the left. The cursor would move smoothly about 5 pixels in the intended direction, and then immediately jump back to the previous position (or maybe even a few pixels beyond). This would happen several times (3-7 times) during what was intended to be a useful point-and-click movement, at which point I would stop moving the mouse in that direction and the problem would disappear for a while (maybe 10 seconds, maybe 5 days).
When I changed surfaces the original problem remained, and now every 2 hours or so a regular movement, say 2 inches up and to the right, would end up with my cursor being firmly lodged in the upper left of the screen. As far as I can tell, these large jumps always head for that corner.

Now, could this be the result of dust, a bad mousing surface, odd software, or a fault in my equipment somewhere? Has anyone had this happen to them? (BTW, I have downloaded the most recent drivers and software from Logitech, to no avail)

it’s my WAG that it’s an equipment fault. those mouse(s?) without balls tend to have loose cursors… the easiest way to verify is to plug it to another pc and test. (usually no installation required)

I have an optical mouse, and i have a similar problem. When I move the mouse to fast, the cursor on the screen moves backwards. I think it’s the same effect you see in movies with airplane propellers, the sample rate is too slow, the mouse is moving too fast, and the mouse interprets the movement in a different direction