Mouse moves on it's own

Try reinstalling the mouse driver.  Also, some mice have a wheel in the middle which doesn't sit exactly on a position, and the cursor drifts.  Rolling the wheel helps settle it.

You may have a buddy or family member with a sense of humor as well are you sure someone didn't install a application as a joke?

Or even worse a virus or trojan.

Or try uninstalling and reinstalling the trackpad/pointing stick if you want to use them as well

I've got a mouse that does random jumps, it's just a slightly faulty mouse.

Have yout tried all the simple stuff like unplugging it and re-plugging it in etc?

Craig.

Okay I had this problem before, let me tell you, those pointers mice are BAD. Here is what I did. First I installed the mouse utility from Dell's website (support.dell.com insert service tag). After installing, I was able to disable the pointer mouse, and everything was fixed.

Then I thought, what if sometime that it failed to start, or just in the future i rebuild the machine and I forget. It is obvious that the mouse is bad, so I found a site on google that mentioned you can actually cut the connection to that mouse stick pointer. I know, it sounds scary, but it took me literally 5 minutes. If you need more information, I can try and find the google site that had it, but basically you unscrew the keyboard, there's 2 flat cables running to it, just strip the one to the mouse stick pointer, patch it up with a small piece of electric tape so it doesn't short, and poof.

I've done this about 7 times with various laptops from dell in the past 5 years, and they were all successfull.

In response to comment by x_X_x_X_x , you very well could have a trojan (like Sub7) installed on your system.  Just to be safe, scan your machine with Spybot Search&Destroy.  It's awesome!  

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1

Also, make sure your remote destop sharing is not turned on (it is a part of Microsoft Net Meeting in earlier versions of Windows, not sure about XP).

Hope this helps.

yfedchun, Spybot S&D wouldn't detect a trojan!  Spybot S&D detects spyware, malware, & adware.  The only thing that detects trojans are Antivirus Programs.  Two good free ones are AntivirXP & AVG.

I personally think it's spyware or virus related as well.  Below are the download links for those programs:

AVG http://www.grisoft.com
AntivirXP http://www.free-av.com

nikpegler - alot of adware/malwar/spyware programs do actually detect trojans.

InterfaceEngr - give SpySweeper a go... it's only a trial but you're allowed one update (which is up to the latest) and then as many scans as you like until the trial runs out... SpySweeper will detect it if there is a trojan.

You could also use PC Cillin House Call thingy - run it in Internet Explorer - Click virus scan at the top of www.xoopiter.com/forum/

Oh, it's http://www.webroot.com/ for spysweeper by the way - click start scan now on the homepage.

Thanks - I found out that Toshiba laptops sometimes have this problem when they are set up for multiple pointing devices (keyboard stick, touchpad, and mouse).  I've disabled the two built-in devices and will give it a day or two before closing this out and awarding points.  Thanks for all the help!

hahah I thought you had "landslide.exe" which was an old app that would randomly move the mouse to a bottom corner. Its old though, and probably doesn't work on newer systems. Lots of fun to put on friend's computers.

glad you got it worked out :)

Sometimes that drifting happens when my cellphone rings near the mouse :D

I have also had a similar problem with an optical mouse and I found that changing (or using/not using) the mousepad usually helped. Mine would drift to the upper left corner.  Not sure if your problem is as simple as mine was though.

Disabling the touchpad and keyboard stick seems to have fixed the problem.  I'm closing this and awarding points to barrettt.  Thanks for all the suggestions!