point32.exe, a magnifier, intermittently pops up

[Richard]

From time to time, I suddenly have a magnifier pop up. I've found it
intrusive, at best. Finally, I discovered that point32.exe is the
culprit and I was able to kill it in Task Manager.

Does anyone know an easy way to prevent it from being launched in the
first place? (it must be some keystrokes or mouse clicks that
inadvertently brings it up.)

I'm running WinXP/SP2.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Does anyone know an easy way to prevent it from being launched in the
first place? (it must be some keystrokes or mouse clicks that
inadvertently brings it up.)

Point32 loads necessary functions for the MS Intellimouse. Disable
it, and you'll lose much of your controls for the buttons/wheel of
your mouse.

The version 6 Intellipoint drivers don't use point32... you might try
loading those.

 

[Malke]

intrusive, at best. Finally, I discovered that point32.exe is the
culprit and I was able to kill it in Task Manager.

Does anyone know an easy way to prevent it from being launched in the
first place? (it must be some keystrokes or mouse clicks that
inadvertently brings it up.)

I'm running WinXP/SP2.

I just saw something like this on a client's machine. It was some option
on her wireless mouse that you get the magnifier when you click one of
the side buttons. Go into your mouse Control Panel applet (or you might
have a program that came with the mouse for configuring it) and
change/disable the option.


Malke

 

[+Bob+]

I just saw something like this on a client's machine. It was some option
on her wireless mouse that you get the magnifier when you click one of
the side buttons. Go into your mouse Control Panel applet (or you might
have a program that came with the mouse for configuring it) and
change/disable the option.

Yes, it's on the left side of the mouse (although in British Colonies
and the UK it might be on the right).

In Control Panel under "mouse" you can set it to do anyone of about a
hundred other functions.

 

[Nightowl]

Yes, it's on the left side of the mouse (although in British Colonies
and the UK it might be on the right).

Don't quite follow the logic of your thinking there

I'm using Intellipoint 6 and an Intellimouse Optical, and Magnify is
shown as an option for the button on either side

 

[Richard]

Don't quite follow the logic of your thinking there

I'm using Intellipoint 6 and an Intellimouse Optical, and Magnify is
shown as an option for the button on either side

Hi Folks,

Thank you, one and all, for chiming in. I had no idea that this
magnify thing might have anything to do with the mouse.

I've got a Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 with a red button on
the left side.

Control Panel | Mouse indicates that the Magnify button is set to
"Magnify (default)" and Task Manager shows point32.exe to be
running. When I click the "mouse button: with the cursor over an MS
Word document, the Magnifier opens.

That's the good news. I now know how the rascal got activated. The
bad news is clicking the mouse button again doesn't close the
Magnifier. I had to kill point32.exe to get rid of it. Is there a
better way. I'll Google to see if I can find an answer.

(BTW, the scroll button still works, but the magnifier button is
disabled.)

Regards,
Richard

 

[Richard]

Hi Folks,

Thank you, one and all, for chiming in. I had no idea that this
magnify thing might have anything to do with the mouse.

I've got a Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 with a red button on
the left side.

Control Panel | Mouse indicates that the Magnify button is set to
"Magnify (default)" and Task Manager shows point32.exe to be
running. When I click the "mouse button: with the cursor over an MS
Word document, the Magnifier opens.

That's the good news. I now know how the rascal got activated. The
bad news is clicking the mouse button again doesn't close the
Magnifier. I had to kill point32.exe to get rid of it. Is there a
better way. I'll Google to see if I can find an answer.

(BTW, the scroll button still works, but the magnifier button is
disabled.)

Regards,
Richard

I saw that point32.sys is one of the mouse drivers, which I guess led
to the installation of the pont32.exe. I think I follow up on
changing th setting Mouse applet and be done with this issue.

Again, thank you all for sharing your insights.