Help!
Something has happened to my mouse, and I don't know how to fix this. I think Ivy may have pushed some buttons or something when I wasn't looking.
I can no longer right click. I'll usually right click a link and chose 'Open in new tab', only the option box won't pop up at all. Also, my left click only works on the IE page - for clicked on 'Start' (which worked) and tried to go to the Control Panel to see if I could fiddle with the mouse settings, and I keep clicking on the control panel and it won't open. Nothing, whether I try right or left clicking.
Even the little bar at the top, with File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, Help...I try to click on them and I get a weird 'boink' sound and it won't click.
I can click on Search & Favorites in the tool bar, but it opens up as a blank white scree.
I don't know what to do! And this is my mom's puter, too, so I'm in trouble if I can't fix the thing. Please help if you have any clue!
Comments
if that doesnt work, try a system restore?
Sounds like it could be your computer but I'm not sure.
ok try going to control panel
then going to mouse
then to 'hardware' tab
then click properties
This will give you info about the driver etc. check if it says 'this is working properly' or not. You can click the troubleshooting guide, update the driver or just leave that and try system restore.
maybe just maybe it's the mouse. Do you have another on-hand you could test? (my god Im a nerd cus I have 3 in the house right now and only 1 computer)
System restore is another option. It sets the computer to an earlier point in time (but any files you made or changed will be fine - don worry)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx
Now if that DIDN'T work then it's prolly your mouse and not the computer.
I'll try that link above. Had to wait til I responded to click on it. ;) Hopefully it's something I can do without having to click on the puter. :(
If it's your mouse and it's your clicker then you may have outclicked your clicker. I normally toss things into the freezer (electronic) to see if that'll get them working (It works about 40% of the time, once with a mouse and twice with a mobile phone - never with a laptops parts) if that doesn't work then... umm... get a new mousie since the problem could be from the clicker to the wirey-bitties.
That ^ is my undereducated guess, but I'm not a computer techie.
If you're on a PC, you may have to start loving keyboard commands for a while unless it "fixes itself"
Press the WINDOWS key and arrow your way to the control pannel. If that doesn't work you can tab your way all through your computer and use ENTER as your mouseclick. That way you can re-install your mouse drivers as instructed above. Not sure how to do it in a Mac or other Operating system, though since I'm addicted to PC Windows XP/98
If neither thing works, try turning the computer off, unplugging the mouse, then plugging it back in, then restarting the computer. If all else fails, go out and get a new mouse, plug that in, and see if the old mouse is just dead.
You mean.. you didn't try to.. restart..
*has a bit of a cry at how simple it was*
When your mouse dies and you don't need to save any work, the best way to shut down your computer is ctrl-alt-del, then use the arrow keys to go to "shut down computer" then reboot. There's also the 'windows' key, then use arrow keys to select "shut down".
Oh btw; I'm TC,
Thank you for the help, and certainly don't apologize for chiming in. I hate when I get a lot of feedback that doesn't solve the problem, but it gets skipped because there's so many answers. LOL Especially since the same thing happened to me again the other day. The ctr/alt/del thing just would not come up for me, and I couldn't get the windows button to work anymore either. I don't know what's up, except maybe it's a problem with IE. I had to just unplug it, but it sucks when I can't save what I was doing. My mom just downloaded Firefox, though, so I'm going to try that next time and see if it helps any.
PS: I took a peeksie at your profile, and I don't often get an excuse to use my Bruce icon, so this is just for you. :)
Did you upgrade to IE 7? That program is a piece. If you did, uninstall it. It makes your system very unstable. One of the first things you should try to do is uninstall all the programs you're not using. Second, clean your registry. There are many free programs available for doing that. Lastly, defragment your hard drive, and not with windows' crappy software. I have an excellent program called diskeeper if you want it. And yes, using Firefox or Opera will make your computer crash much less.
(gah.. i posted this comment to your original post instead of your reply. just woke up n kinda groggy. :)
As for registry cleaners, people seem to like CCleaner, but look around on download.com (make sure the license type is 'free') if you're not sure. As far as defrag utilities, I've been using Diskeeper, which I can put up on the int0rweb for you if you want. It's big for just a defragger, like 25 megs.. but it works very well. Lemme know if you want it.
I have the CCleaner that the Geek Squad left on my computer. Don't have the disk, though. I was going to try to run it, but it came up with all this stuff checked and asked me to confirm whatever - but I didn't know what all the checked things were and I was afraid to mess with it. LOL
Use the CCleaner, but make sure you have all the stuff you dont want to lose backed up in case you fuxx0r your registry. It needs to be done tho.. else your computer will spend half it's time looking for shit that isn't there.