Fix for Optical Mouse Single Click Problem

Published:
Well I am not sure whether i deserve anything (credit or points) for this article, since I have not written the source code but discovered the same while browsing the net. I only wish to help EE users save some money and probably help the environment (for whom it is important of course).  Please note that I have used this utility personally and benefited from it, so i wish to make the solution more widely available.

The article is based on the following link:

http://www.indiabroadband.net/computer-hardware-software-tips-tricks/14122-most-common-problem-optical-mouse-solved.html 

The source code is available there.

Have you ever faced a problem with your optical mouse (any brand - specially the less-expensive ones like: Techcomm, Frontech, Zebronics etc)?  After usage of 7-8 months (the duration differs) many optical mouse users face a problem of multiple clicks (2 or more than 2) on clicking just once.  It becomes really hard to control the mouse clicks while browsing.  Before you dump your mouse, wait there is a solution to this very common problem.

Well, after searching for solutions on many sites I finally found a solution.

Mousefix.exe is a very small free application which you will need to put in your startup folder and which will always run in the background in case your mouse is having the problem.  It will monitor your mouse clicks and won't let it make false clicks.  For interested people, the entire source-code is also freely available.

Though this application was meant for Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Optical Mouse, i tried it and it works fine with all such defective optical mouses.  It only uses about 200KB of RAM in the background.

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This is a small utility program the author wrote to correct a problem that is experienced by some users of the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Optical Mouse, whose devices have defective microswitches under the buttons causing a single-click to be seen by Windows as a double-click (seemingly not "debounced" properly).

Contrary to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 266738 — IntelliMouse: Mouse Double-Clicks When You Try to Single-Click — this problem is most likely to be caused by faulty hardware.  However, I the program's author couldn't be bothered sending his mouse back, so he wrote a software solution to the problem.

For my mouse, the problem seems to be that the switch isn't "debounced" when you release the button — i.e. when you release it, it actually clicks again.  Basically, the program intercepts "up" events for the left mouse button, and ignores any subsequent "up" events that follow within a very small time.

Installing MouseFix

1. Download the utility:
MouseFix.zip
   * Download MouseFix utility (Windows NT/2000/XP only)
2. Unzip, and place the files in C:\Program Files\MouseFix.
3. Create a shortcut to MouseFix.exe and place it in the Startup folder of the Start menu.
4. Log off and back on again — your mouse should no longer double-click by accident!

If you manually run the executable, only run it once — you will not see anything to indicate the utility is running, but you should be able to locate the MouseFix.exe item in Task Manager (you can exit the utility by ending the task).

Additional Notes

This utility is provided free of charge and without a warranty of any kind. the author is not responsible for any damage or loss that may occur. USE ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

This utility will only work on Windows NT, 2000 or XP.  However, the source-code (refer link to the original article) is available free of charge to anyone who is interested in it, and someone could probably adapt it to work on Windows 95/98/ME.
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Commented:
You rock, I have been plagued with this ever since. A software solution to a hardware problem.

My Yes Vote of course, well that ups you with 50 points.

Ravi.

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