My Mouse Doesn’t Work
The computer mouse is one of the most important devices on your computer. With today’s graphically-intensive user interfaces, a mouse is the leading choice to interact with programs. This is because of its ease of use; just point-and-click and drag-and-drop and you can quite easily do a whole catalogue of commands. This is why it is important to have a responsive mouse. The problems that can result from a slow mouse can be compounded even more if the mouse in question is not responding at all. Although you can probably work with a keyboard alone, you will be essentially disabled or even maybe not able to fully access the complete capabilities of your computer.
So why is your mouse not working? Most of the time it’s a simple hardware problem: just a loose connection to your port. Just detach and reattach and you’ll be fine. However, there is a significant percentage of mouse problems being based in the software side of things. This usually means a driver problem. A simple way to determine if the software is the problem is to just hook the mouse up to another computer. Usually if it works there and not on your computer, you’re facing a device driver problem.
Driver problems are a very real difficult for most people. Most operating systems have a generic suite of drivers that enables them to get most devices working, but if you really want the best out of your system, you always use the appropriate driver for each device. Mouse problems are no exception. Non-responsiveness and even delayed response times are a result of a driver incompatibility. You need to have an up-to-date set of drivers to get a hundred percent out of your computer’s hardware. Driver problems can also blossom into bigger hardware problems as your drivers clash with your system.
So how do you solve this predicament? Windows has Plug and Play functionality and this usually does the trick – the system automatically installs the appropriate drivers or prompts you to pop in an accompanying CD or DVD to install the correct drivers. Most hardware manufacturers maintain a web presence, so you can easily obtain a mouse driver from the Logitech or A4 Tech site.
However, sometimes that isn’t enough. To get the correct driver and update your system accordingly, it would be best to use a driver update program like Driver Detective. This simple app scans your computer’s hardware and correctly identifies it using the latest in scanning technology. Afterwards, it automatically downloads and updates your system to the correct version of the drivers. Do this and your mouse will be working in no time.
