There are many reasons your mouse could be moving around by itself. Some are sinister and some have a little to do with maintenance and other factors.
When you see your mouse moving around the screen without you touching it is easy to think the worst such as your computer has been hacked, or its a ghost.
This post will talk about the most common reasons your mouse would seem to have a life of its own.
A Dirty Touch Screen
When touch screens come out they were all the rage. Everybody wanted one, and you no longer had to use a mouse anymore, all you had to do was reach out and touch the screen.
Well it turned out that was just as much work, it not more as actually using the mouse in the first place and the fad soon died off.
As the screens a very sensitive and people do not disable them when using them and as dirt, dust and other splashes end up on the screen, the computer assumes it could be your finger touching it.
When it does that it can make the mouse and pointer move unpredictable and appear someone is moving your mouse.
The most annoying time this happens is when you are typing a document and your cursor jumps lines and paragraphs forcing your to type all over the place and out of context.
A Faulty Track Pad
Your touch pad is the built in mouse in your laptop or notepad. It is built in part of the computer and connect via cable within your case to the motherboard.
It is not uncommon for those cables to be defective, they are only small and can easily dislodge also. When this happens it can send the wrong signals to your motherboard and operating system making the mouse move all around the screen like it has a mind of its own.
You Have Been Hacked
When most people have been hacked, it is usually some doing on there behalf that helped the criminals gain access to their computer.
There are many remote access programs out there which you can install on your computer that will allow someone to access your machine and operate it as if they were sitting right behind the keyboard themselves.
It is near impossible for criminals to install these programs, so the key is getting you to install it for them.
The two most common ways they do this is by calling you and pretending they are from an organisation you trust. They talk you into installing the software and then they take over your computer. Or, by sending you a file and asking you to install it which gives them the same result.
When in doubt don’t install anything unless your sure!
Bad Drives
Drivers a little programs on your computer which help your psychical hardware like mouse or track pad talk to the operating system, (Windows, OSX or Linux).
Sometimes, usually during an update, Windows might accidentally assigned and download and install the wrong driver for your mouse track pad, resulting in it not working properly or not at all.
A way around this if it happens is to plug and external mouse into your computer USB port and use that to navigate and reinstall the correct track pad drivers for your laptop or computer.
If Windows does not find them automatically or keeps installing the wrong drivers, you will need to go to your manufacturers website support sections and download them and install it manually.
