How to clean the scroll button on your mac mouse.

It's irritating.
that tiny little roller that allows you to scroll up and down gets more and more intermittent.
Usually it fails in one direction, or the other.
You can't really take these mice apart for cleaning, like other mice. so what do you do?
I'm referring to the white mouse, that came with many mac. Shaped like a bar of soap, there is a wireless, and wired version.

Here is what you do.
Wet your finger, so it's as wet as possible without dripping.
now scroll that baby back and forth rapidly, and enough so you know that the whole little wheel is getting damp.

Now turn it upside down on your palm, and roll it along your palm enough so it makes a zip, zip, sound.
While it's still upside down, tap it against your palm a few times, your trying to knock off some dirt in there.

Repeat the wetting of the finger, the rolling of the wheel with it. Then the long roll along the palm.
Tap, tap, tap again.

Now try it out..See if you were successful...You may only get some functionality back..If that's that case. Repeat the steps again..

So far it has worked on every mouse I've tried it on. Including mine..I've revived mine 4 times so far.
Better than throwing it away, or buying a new one.

Simple!

reply to post by spacedoubt


I honestly not meaning to be funny or rude but.. You have to do that?

Can't you actually buy a real mouse? Are macs so anal that require you to have to resort to licking your fingers to clean the scroll wheel??

I honestly dont know, but my SteelSeriese laser mouse has never needed such attention, and boy Im grubby...

and it still feels like a table top hockey puck toy, smooth as air and as precise as snap..

I just think .. if you poor guys are stuck with such a thing.. oh man... please tell me you are just being loyal...

Oo

www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by badw0lf
reply to post by spacedoubt

 

I honestly not meaning to be funny or rude but.. You have to do that?

Can't you actually buy a real mouse? Are macs so anal that require you to have to resort to licking your fingers to clean the scroll wheel??

I honestly dont know, but my SteelSeriese laser mouse has never needed such attention, and boy Im grubby...

and it still feels like a table top hockey puck toy, smooth as air and as precise as snap..

I just think .. if you poor guys are stuck with such a thing.. oh man... please tell me you are just being loyal...

Oo

I like the little scroll on that mouse, and so do a lot of the users I support.
It's very accurate and doesn't take much movement.
I also like the feel of that mouse.
But Apple doesn't always allow easy access to the insides of their product.
I use trackballs on my PCs.
I've got access to boxes and boxes of mice, trackballs, anything I want.
I used a different one yesterday for a while. But I went ahead and tried one more time to clean the Mac mouse, and whatever was hung up in there, came loose.

It only takes a minute, about every 4 months or so.

PS, no, no..Don't lick your finger..use water.

reply to post by codrutoctavian


Tried it, not as good. Doesn't seem to last as long. but if you're in a hurry and don't feel like getting out of your chair it's a good alternative.

reply to post by spacedoubt


fair call - can never say preference is a bad thing !!

I just like my 5 button mouse, with its sexy sleek feel and of uber hot usability )

Haha, just kidding mate, its the way we use what we have...



I remember the days when a mouse was a luxury! Oh thats so long ago..

Oh and Hahaha I have no idea how I got licking your fingers from your post, but I did.. Re-reading it, I see you didn't ever mention it.. lol, oops!!

Originally posted by badw0lf
reply to post by spacedoubt

 

fair call - can never say preference is a bad thing !!

I just like my 5 button mouse, with its sexy sleek feel and of uber hot usability

)

Haha, just kidding mate, its the way we use what we have...

I remember the days when a mouse was a luxury! Oh thats so long ago..

Oh and Hahaha I have no idea how I got licking your fingers from your post, but I did..

Re-reading it, I see you didn't ever mention it.. lol, oops!!

edit on 26/11/2010 by badw0lf because: Erps!!

I remember when the Monitor was a luxury!
The first computers I maintained and repaired used a keyboard\printer and punch cards as input devices.
It was an exiting day when we finally installed the magnetic tape system. That was our boot drive!
You loaded a big reel of tape, and an empty take-up reel..then you peeled off a bunch of slack, and routed it through a chamber that acted as an air column. Push a button...big sucking sound, then a loud FART sound, as the tape got tensioned up..Then you could boot er up..

We have a number of artists where I work now. And they do love their Macs.
I'm sure they would throw temper tantrums if we ever tried to stick PCs on their desks.

I mostly use PCs, but this G5 I have is growing on me. It's our go-to machine for internet access.
And I have my movie software, and camera software running on it. It's nice to get familiarity too.
I'm supporting all the apple products at work now.

reply to post by spacedoubt


Holy Hannah! Now you are one of the ancients of internet lore. I knew of but one woman who also used punch tape.. Maureen. She was dragged kicking and screaming into the magnetic world of novell servers and windows 3.11 desktops and to this day you can hear her banshee screams when little kids surpass her in the job while she is bound and gagged at level 3 information systems officer.

And I agree, she was young once, a mere child entering into a world she knew EVERYTHING of... and suddenly, 20 years later, 19 year old university morons waltz in and throw their know it all all ignorance around, installing windows 2000 server (back in my day) and keeping her at arms length as the old biddy who should make tea and get the muffins..

It was WWII of the internet age at my old place of work.. I was too young to rememner WWI but I heard it was brutal, but WWII proved to me you cannot just go from windows 3.11 to 95 or from novell netware to windows server in one fell swoop.

Oh no... Old ladies in every department would have you roasting for hours every time you ventured near.

Old men in trade business units would accost you and verbally assault you like some form of malfunctioning biomechanical robot, trying to get you to adhere to their programming..

Oh how I wish I'd seen the days where it was just cardboad slips that did it all..

thank god I got out of that madness...