Intermittent mouse
I had an interesting one a few years ago where, mid-afternoon, one of the office managers complained that her "mouse wasn't working properly". So I took the ball out, cleaned the gak and hair off the rollers, reassembled it, tested it and it worked fine. 10 minutes later "the mouse STILL isn't working properly!"
Swapped it with a spare from stores, tested it, everything seemed okay. 10 minutes later... "waaaah!"
So I stood there and watched her operate the mouse (delicately between just finger and thumb, then lift hand completely and press button with index finger ?!?!) and, true enough, the pointer didn't track the mouse's movements.
She was close to finishing for the day so I said I'd take a look at the PC later to try and find the problem (couldn't see any issue with drivers or connectors on the PC in a quick check). Tested the mouse later and it worked fine???
Eventually discovered that the problem seemed to be that her desk was in a large, south-facing window, with the sun beaming in onto the thin beige plastic of the cheap mouse, and her delicate way of holding the critter meant the light was penetrating through the case and disrupting the opto-sensor on the tracking roller inside the mouse! A few carefully crafted strips of cardboard from a notepad stuck inside the mouse later and the thing was working perfectly, in all light conditions!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
