Mac Forum / General / Hardware / May 2008

You *are* kidding, aren't you?

Oh, that's right-no one younger than me remembers when mice sold for
more than computers do today.  That's why they're used to treating them
the way the super-rich who smoked once treated cars-they bought a new
one when the ashtrays got full.

Anyway, if it's the old-fashioned electromechanical type with a ball,
there should be a plastic locking ring on the bottom that'll probably
have an arrow on it to show which way to turn it to get it off.  Once
that's done the ball should fall out into your hand.

Inside the mouse you should see a couple of pin-like rollers at right
angles to one another.  The ball rolls against these and spins them to
move the cursor.  Chances are they're coated with paper dust or other
crud; if they're really bad I like to take the small blade of a pocket
knife to scrape them clean (while making sure to hold the mouse so the
crap falls *out* as it's loosened).  Once you get the visible dirt off,
go over the rollers with a cotton swab moistened (*not* dripping!) with
rubbing alcohol.  Give the ball itself a wipedown with the same stuff
and let everything dry for a moment before putting it back together.

If you've got an optical mouse-one of which I'd never used until my work
computer was replaced a short while back-I don't think I'd go any
farther than wiping the little window the laser shines out through with
a damp cloth-and I'd endeavor not to look directly into it while I was
doing it.  I'm only guessing here because my mouse hasn't exhibited
symptoms of needing to be cleaned yet.  Maybe they don't need it anymore.