How to Fix a Jumpy Mouse or Cursor

If you feel a thump-thump-thump when you move your mouse around or if when you move your mouse the cursor jumps around instead of moving smoothly–you have a dirty mouse.  By a dirty mouse I mean that there is dirt (dust combined with the oil from your skin most likely) on the x- and y-axis rollers (horizontal and vertical rollers) of the mouse.  These rollers communicate the movement of the mouse to the computer and the dirt rolls against the mouse ball giving it “lumpy” input versus the smooth feel of a clean mouse.  Here you can see the ring of crud that is stuck to the rollers.

There is one other roller that doesn’t sense movement but just holds the mouse ball against the 2 rollers.  It is white on this mouse.  It has junk stuck to it as well:

You can go the route of using a q-tip dipped in alcohol to clean these but the easiest way I’ve found is jut to take a pocket knife and just scrape off the dirt and slowly turn the wheel/roller, working your way all around, periodically taking time to dump out the stuff you scraped off.

Clean both rollers and the wheel.  This is what came out of this particular mouse, sick:

One mouse I just cleaned even had a dirty ball:

I washed it in soap and water and it cleaned up like new:

Some of the reasons they came out with the optical mouse are:

1. it has less moving parts and is therefore cheaper
2. it isn’t susceptible to these problem.
3. no mouse pad is necessary because it will work on almost any surface