Glidepad mouse troubles

[Mandi]

My glidepad mouse has begun acting ill . . . It's a little over 2 years old, and has been a workhorse, but is now acting in the same manner as when you accidentally touch it in two places - sorta jumpy, tries to highlight things, easily moves aside of where I am trying to point, arrrggghhhh!![nbsp][nbsp]I can navigate roughly using tab + enter, and alt+__ for menu stuff, but it sucks bigtime . . . if this were a conventional mouse, I say it needed to be cleaned, but it's just this sealed glidepad thingy . . . machine is a Win98 OS Dell Inspiron laptop, if that matters.[nbsp][nbsp]

The *only* thing I've changed recently is upgrade to ICQ2000, I know it seemed to write to a LOT of the registry at istall.[nbsp][nbsp]Think it could be my mouse drivers??

[Brian]

Get some rubbing alcohol and put it on a clean towel and then clean the pad with this. Let dry and repeat a few times. It should now be fine.

-Brian

[Justin]

I agree but I'd be careful using rubbing alcohol -- something along the lines of window cleaner would be better. Alcohol tends to melt plastic, and I'm not sure exactly what material is on the glide-pad thingy... I do know that buildup can cause them to act weird, and the problem most likely is that it needs cleaning.

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Justin Nelson
SFE Software (http://www.sfesoftware.com)

[PaulKroll]

A) I thought alcohol tended to melt rubber, not plastic.
B) Glass cleaners oily? With soap? Wouldn't that be more like Fantastik or 409, general counter-top cleaners? Most glass cleaners I've seen are ammonia-based, as oily things would streak something fierce on glass.
C) Naptha might be another option, but that too dissolves rubber pretty quickly, so depending on what the glidepad is made of, you could end up with a "scratchpad" or a "wow, this doesn't function at all anymorepad".

[Justin]

I was pretty sure I've seen alcohol damage plastic -- though it does come in a plastic bottle, so that wouldn't make much sense now that I think about it... maybe just certain types of plastic? I'm sure I've seen it soften plastic before though...

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Justin Nelson
SFE Software (http://www.sfesoftware.com)

[Jag]

Why not just take a very damp wash cloth and carefully
wipe it down:)
I don't see why that wouldn't work.
(I have never owned a glidepad but it seems logical)

Jag

[sheila]

Justin's suggestion of using a window cleaner is definitely the best.
I'm surprised that anyone would think there is anything oily in most cleaning products. I really don't know what's in 409 or Fantastik, but it probably isn't oil. The only cleaning product that has oil in it, to my knowledge, is Murphy's Oil Soap (which is used for cleaning wooden surfaces, such as cabinet doors, wooden floors and such...)

Water only cleans up stuff that is water soluble to begin with.

[Jag]

Oh,...ok.
Come to think of it using windex or something does sound like it would work.:)
You might also want to clean off your mouse pad to.
As that can add more trouble to the proplem.

Jag

[PaulKroll]

Sheila,

OK, you caught me quoting some goofball salesperson of many years ago, who swore up and down that Fantastik was a petroleum distillate. Come to think of it, that doesn't even actually mean he was saying "oil based," since there's a lot of chemicals in petroleum, but ANYHOW...

...nothing in Fantastik sounds like "oil" but the safety sheet on it (http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~jsmith/MSDS/DOW%20BRANDS%20HOMECARE%20DIV%20--%20FANTASTIK.htm) sure has a lot of other interesting words. :)

[sheila]

Hah, hah. Paul, that is good. I would have never expected so much FACTUAL INFORMATION on a topic like this in a dicussion forum. Wow.

My favorite snip from that page:

Ingredient: WATER
Ingredient Sequence Number: 04
Percent: 87

Heh. Fantastik is 87% water! And what do they charge you for it? Like $4 for a large bottle. Rip-off!

[Brian]

I never said I actually know anything about cleaning products; I am a guy we don’t have to know about that kind of thing until green stuff starts growing…

-Brian

[sheila]

Brian,
The lack of feminine participation in this discussion had struck me, but I thought I'd avoid pointing it out...

But since you've come to the realization on your own...

Still, always seems to me that it is an excuse. As Bill Cosby says, [paraphrased]
Guys have it all figured out. They just do a poor job of the cleaning assignment, so that they will be relieved of the chore.

[for more detailed and hilarious represenation of the above statement, I highly recommend renting the video tape "Bill Cosby: Himself". Extremely funny.]

We don't let that pass in our house. Not that our house is clean, mind you.

[dank]

We don't let that pass in our house. Not that our house is clean, mind you. See, ask a guy to clean and you end up with a dirty house.[nbsp][nbsp];)

Dirt
[nbsp]- "Don't treat your soil like dirt"

[Bob]

Hey Sheila,

Want to hear a "Realization" horror story?

Well here's the gist of it ;)

Picture a 47 Year Old living by himself in a house for 10 years and then out of nowhere ex girlfriend comes and moves in with 2 weeks notice.

Scary enough for you yet?[nbsp][nbsp]It get's better, the 47 year old has to quickly erect[nbsp][nbsp](Hey now keep it clean:P ) a wall that he knocked down some years ago that is part of the main bedroom wall![nbsp][nbsp](Hey, didn't need no stinkin wall[nbsp][nbsp]LOL )[nbsp][nbsp]did I mention the 3 daughters ?

I'll be nice and not mention the Refrigerator[nbsp][nbsp]:P[nbsp][nbsp](Oh that was not a pretty site)

Anyway I am one of those that Freely admits my shortcomings and the "Cleaning One" is definitely one of mine.

What all of this has to do with General Computing I don't have a clue, but it's good to Come Clean sometimes[nbsp][nbsp]:P

Have a Good One
Bob

[teach1st]

Revenge of the 47 Year-old Bachelors!

I'm an old single dude, too. After my daughters moved out, I reverted to a 19-year old. People who know me only via computers get the idea I'm organized. Then they see my house.

How come guys can keep a computer defragged, a car spotless and oil-changed, and the football-pool chart perfect but not be able to pick up their socks?

I use a cleaning service. It's cheaper, 'cause when I clean I ruin everything and use gallons of Fantastick water/

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fred

[sheila]

I'll be nice and not mention the Refrigerator[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp](Oh that was not a pretty site) LOL, and not just at Bob. Well, my fridge is pretty good. But, every couple of months, when we can't fit all the new groceries in from a recent shopping trip, we do have little expeditions into the back corners and find, well, um...stuff we no longer recognize.

To tie this into general computing:

It is definitely not recommended to use your Mouse Glide Pad anywhere near the refrigerator. Stuff could get on it.

[Mandi]

Well, I am just STUNNED that nobody mentioned the computer professional's #1 housekeeping tip:[nbsp][nbsp]poor lighting.

I do keep the laptop away from the fridge, but I am guilty of packing much fridge contents over to the laptop.

I mean really . . . can we take a poll?[nbsp][nbsp]Are there ACTUALLY any good housekeepers amongst us?[nbsp][nbsp]I only have a clean house if I go completely off the deep end and schedule a dinner party for friends.[nbsp][nbsp]Or worse, husband's work colleagues (not that *they* are worse, just that close friends inspire less cleaning.)

Thanks for the glidepad tips, I'll rummage around and see if we have some of those[nbsp][nbsp]. . . what'd you say?[nbsp][nbsp]Cleaning products?[nbsp][nbsp]Maybe somewhere . . .[nbsp]

[dank]

Are we going to differentiate between tidy and clean?[nbsp][nbsp]If not, I fold...

Dan

[Brian]

I never thought of that, but I know I have used it several times on my laptops touch pad and it worked great... Glass cleaner should work as well but it might leave it oily and reinvent the problem as its more soap based then rubbing alcohol???

-Brian

[Justin]

If not, I fold... That's work too... I much prefer my laundry methods, which involes quite simply a 'clean' pile and a 'dirty' pile.

While we're on the subject of refrigerators, has anyone else found themselves throwing away a dish/container for fear of opening it (and inevitably having to clean it)? I'm talking a dish/container that you've grown acustomed to seeing in the fridge, until it just finally got in your way... and who knows what's grown inside...

I've also noticed that while I keep my monitors clean, looking over at the TV, I haven't wiped it's screen down in a very long time...

Deb mentioned a rule about no food by the computers... I think that would also help the 'greesy keyboard/mouse' syndrome typically brought on by pizza... I'm sure if I had a Glide Pad it would have been ruined long ago from pizza grease :)

Here's a question for anyone who smokes near their computers -- I constantly wonder if I'm the only one here... I can tell you exactly how old all of my computer equipment is by how yellow it is. So why do they make this stuff white? Aren't computer users typically the least clean individuals? White is the worst color for anything in this environment, but it would be too expensive to replace everything at this point...

Drifting further off-topic, why is black computer equipment usually more expensive than the same thing in white? I can't find a black PC case anywhere near the prices you can find a cheap white one. And monitors, speakers, keyboards, CD-RW drives, etc are much harder to find in black...

Oh, and some advice: I once spray-painted my PC black, a few years ago; big mistake. The slightest scratch and it looks really bad ;)

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Justin Nelson
SFE Software (http://www.sfesoftware.com)

[dank]

why is black computer equipment usually more expensive than the same thing in white? Volume of sales/demand?

Dmand

[PaulKroll]

For a positively geek-glory chrome and black case, check out http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/enclosures/professional/pro_towers/index.htm

But do >NOT< click on the price list. You really don't want to know. I think I've got a car that's cheaper. (It's a Geo Metro, so actually, it may have less metal as well...)

[Justin]

I really like the chrome tower... actually I don't think that price is all that bad, considering one could probably practice welding on it... I know my ~$50 cases are cheezy, and the slot screw holes are about stripped out on all of mine... would be nice to have a solid, sturdy, kewl-looking tower for a change :)

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Justin Nelson
SFE Software (http://www.sfesoftware.com)