When an optical mouse needs cleaning, the mouse pointer's movement will be sporadic; it may also jump across the screen for no reason. To clean a mouse is fairly straight forward; it only takes less than 5 minutes to clean an optical mouse.
Basic Mouse Operation
First, to understand what is happening when your mouse gets dirty, and clarify which parts will need cleaning, a brief word about how the different types of mouse work.
How an optical mouse works
An optical mouse uses light to track the movement of the mouse. An LED (Light Emitting Diode) produces light which reflects back into a light sensor (Photodiode). The differences in the surface below the mouse lens are scanned, as the mouse moves, the surface changes, the direction is calculated and the movement is simulated by the mouse pointer.
If any foreign object, such as a hair or piece of dust, were to disturb the communication of light between the LED and the sensor, it would result in much unexpected behavior!
How to clean an optical mouse
Although optical mice usually require far less maintenance than their mechanical counterpart, they do need cleaning once in a while.
To clean an optical mouse should take less than 5 minutes, so giving it a quick clean every month should be achievable, which will help ensure it keeps working smoothly.
- Turn off your computer.
- Disconnect the mouse cable from the computer.
- Turn the mouse upside down to look at the lens.
- If there is a smudge on the lens, gently clean the area with a plain cotton-tipped swab.
- If there is debris in the lens, gently blow the debris away from the area.
- Check the surface on which you are using the mouse. If you have a very intricate picture or pattern beneath the mouse it may be difficult for the digital signal processor (DSP) to determine changes in the mouse position.
- Reconnect the mouse cable to the computer.
- Turn your computer back on.
No comments:
Post a Comment