Mouse pointer has gone haywire in Windows Explorer

[Guest]

Hi

I have a very strange problem happening with my mouse pointer when I
right-click in windows explorer (to rename or delete a file etc). The pointer
takes on a life of its own and drifts around the window in a juddering slow
motion. While it's doing this I can't do anything, let alone perform the task
I intended. I have no control over the mouse until it decides to stop
misbehaving.

Has anyone come across this before? The loss of mouse control can last for
up to 30 seconds which is a load of wasted time when I'm doing an urgent task!

By the way, I run Spybot, Adaware, MS Antispyware and Norton Antivirus 2005
and there appears to be nothing threatening on my pc.

 

[Galen]

In Jackie D <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hi

I have a very strange problem happening with my mouse pointer when I
right-click in windows explorer (to rename or delete a file etc). The
pointer takes on a life of its own and drifts around the window in a
juddering slow motion. While it's doing this I can't do anything, let
alone perform the task I intended. I have no control over the mouse
until it decides to stop misbehaving.

Has anyone come across this before? The loss of mouse control can
last for
up to 30 seconds which is a load of wasted time when I'm doing an
urgent task!

By the way, I run Spybot, Adaware, MS Antispyware and Norton
Antivirus 2005 and there appears to be nothing threatening on my pc.

I doubt that it's malware related. Today's malware isn't designed, generally
speaking, to be funny or even annoying. Ah how I miss the old ones that just
did simple stuff like trash your hard drive...

Anyhow, I'd start with updating your mouse drivers at the manufacturer's
site.

If that's no good I'd slow the pointer down, disable enhances precision if
that's an option, and see what else might be enabled. (Today's shortcut:
Start > run > type "control mouse" without the quotes, and hit enter.)

If that doesn't work it may just be a resource issue and running the
explorer.exe process in a separate memory space might be just the oddball
tweak to fix it. Try the first options though and then, if that doesn't
work, we'll have you edit the registry and see if that helps.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

Hi Galen

I tried all the changes you suggested. It has made no difference at all I'm
afraid. One thing I forgot to mention was that the problem started after I
installed System Mechanic 5 so it might follow that SM could be the cause.
I've tried to undo some of the 'tweaks' in those settings but I can't seem to
get rid of the floating pointer problem.

Also I have the problem even with both my Logitech wireless mouse and my
Packard Bell wired mouse. Does any of this throw light on the matter? I
suppose I could uninstall system machanic but that seem a bit drastic.

 

[Galen]

In Jackie D <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hi Galen

I tried all the changes you suggested. It has made no difference at
all I'm afraid. One thing I forgot to mention was that the problem
started after I installed System Mechanic 5 so it might follow that
SM could be the cause. I've tried to undo some of the 'tweaks' in
those settings but I can't seem to get rid of the floating pointer
problem.

Also I have the problem even with both my Logitech wireless mouse and
my Packard Bell wired mouse. Does any of this throw light on the
matter? I suppose I could uninstall system machanic but that seem a
bit drastic.

Hmm...

I'm not sure if this will help or not? I've been using Iolo's System
Mechanic for a very long time and never had it do anything like that. The
current product is ver. 6 though I've never had 5 do anything like that
either. This happens only when you open Explorer? Hmm...

Uninstalling System Mechanic doesn't, I'm afraid, revert any tweaks you
might have made with it. A restore will however?

I suppose you *could* try running explorer in it's own separate memory space
but, given what I've read, it's a long shot.

Explorer as a Separate Process :
http://kgiii.info/windows/XP/tips/sep_explorer.html

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

Hi Galen

Just tried to make the changes in regedit to run the deskstop in a separate
process and I discovered I already have the new DWORD value in my registry.

I guess we've hit a blank?

-


Many thanks
JD

 

[Galen]

In Jackie D <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hi Galen

Just tried to make the changes in regedit to run the deskstop in a
separate process and I discovered I already have the new DWORD value
in my registry.

I guess we've hit a blank?

-


Many thanks
JD

Do you have anything that runs with system mechanic started up? Besides
Kaspersky stuff, of course, but like the RAM cleaning utility or the likes?
If you've been tweaking with System Mechanic, in version five, you can
probably undo your changes in the options. You can also load system defaults
in ver. 5 on the tweak applet.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes