A techie question about my optical mouse
 

I have an optical mouse attached to my PC, and from time to time it seems like it develops a mind of its own - the cursor won't point to where I want it to, or I'll be highlighting a whole load of text and suddenly the cursor shoots from the bottom of the screen to the top and the wrong text gets highlighted.

Why the hell is it doing that, and how do I stop it?

If it's of any relevance, and I suspect it might be, there is a picture on my mouse mat.

can't help, maybe try with a plain surface (like a book or something) under it and see if things get better....

(To Nefeli)
Erm... It's off white on top, with grey buttons, and red underneath.

It's one of these:

I have the exact same optical mouse sonicl, mine recently started going weird so I said screw it and plugged an old one in.

I have never used a mat for optical mice, I've had a few strange ones but since i grudgingly paid £20 for an all singing all dancing thing in Currys I haven't had any trouble. In fact it handles worse if it's on a slippery surface like a mat.

Yeah I've exerienced that with previous optical mice. I never had it with my new one though.

its common with the infa red ones. they are like shopping trolleys and they just do what they want. better than the rollerball ones though that get all clogged up with skin and dirt. gross.

some times a stuff gets in it, like a random pube.

inspect it closely and use tweezers or canned air, as appropriate.

also it's good to have an even surface underneath. striated patterns (wood, fake wood) will make them krasy.

I have an optical mouse that goes all wonky every once in a while. When it does, there's usually dust or hair blocking the light beam. Just blow it off.

When all's said and done, I prefer optical mice to rollerball mice. My dad has a rollerball mouse on his computer and it drives me crazy.