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Ok, so my school uses these corded laser mice, the cheap $15-$20 kind. Well, I've noticed that sometimes when its perfectly still, the mouse pointer on screen will drift left or right or up or down. When I suddenly pick it up, the drift stops.

Now my question is, why does it do this? Its exeedingly annoying me now. Any input would be kind. Thanks.

Just to nitpick, optical mice do not use lasers for their sensors. However it's entirely possible the sensors on the mice are either dirty, or the drivers simply need reinstalled.

Happens to me sometimes, clean the lens and the diode.

Yeah, I've got two dogs. I had to check every other day for hair. It didn't matter if one of them got near it or not.

Sometimes my mouse (non optical though) drifted because there was something (typically another cord) pulling the cord down.

Is the mouse on a reflective surface like a polished desk?

General Zod wrote:Just to nitpick, optical mice do not use lasers for their sensors. However it's entirely possible the sensors on the mice are either dirty, or the drivers simply need reinstalled.

Just to nitpick, there are mice available for purchase which do use lasers.

However, as they're significantly more expensive, it's unlikely a school district would purchase them.

Uraniun235 wrote:

General Zod wrote:Just to nitpick, optical mice do not use lasers for their sensors. However it's entirely possible the sensors on the mice are either dirty, or the drivers simply need reinstalled.

Just to nitpick, there are mice available for purchase which do use lasers.

However, as they're significantly more expensive, it's unlikely a school district would purchase them.

Given he said that his were the cheap $10.00-$15.00 ones, it makes sense he's talking about optical mice. Not laser mice.

General Zod wrote:Just to nitpick, optical mice do not use lasers for their sensors. However it's entirely possible the sensors on the mice are either dirty, or the drivers simply need reinstalled.

Older and some newer expensive ones do, they look quite similar to the LED ones though. Only way to tell is to look at it and see if it burns your retina.

edit: Back to the topic, this actually happens quite often with cheaper optical mice. My guess is it would have something to do with the cheap sensors not quite picking up the same image each time it scans. Probably to do with the way they're aligned.

Is there any dust or gunk near the sensor?

General Zod wrote:

Uraniun235 wrote: Just to nitpick, there are mice available for purchase which do use lasers.

However, as they're significantly more expensive, it's unlikely a school district would purchase them.

Given he said that his were the cheap $10.00-$15.00 ones, it makes sense he's talking about optical mice. Not laser mice.

I already addressed your point.

Although not normal, this problem isn't new. My mouse does it on occasion, the mouse ar my summer job did it, shouldn't be a big deal.

They're on a mouse pad and the lense or whatever you want to call it seems to be clean, to the naked eye at least.

Every now and then my old optical mouse would jump the pointer all the way up and left. Very annoying. My new MX310 doesn't have that problem at all