Mouse pointer moving in opposite to physical mouse movement

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Apart from the above
Check for this as a longshot
Re: Laptop: Mouse moves opposite way
Here's a site that has various pranks for your computer, including "dirty mouse" which has a variety of programmable annoyances, including reverse mouse:

http://www.freewarehome.com/index.ht...FPranks_p.html

Peter Hart

unless you have seen this I would ask her to turn the mouse round.
is it a wireless mouse?
if not ask her to have the cable going towards the screen

Seems this can sometimes happen if you use ctrl+arrow keys rotating the screen clockwise instead of anti clockwise might want to try resetting it

ASKER

Some interesting suggestions. Try the simplest solution first. I'll give her a call tomorrow and ask her if she's pointing the mouse in the proper direction.

At least no-one has suggested that I reverse the batteries if it's a wireless mouse. :)

i suppose she's using the left handed mouse option - to correct it : swap the functions of your left and right mouse buttons by going to the Control Panel.
Go to Hardware and Sound, then select Mouse.
Click the buttons tab and put a check on "Swap Primary and Secondary buttons"

ASKER

I too originally thought that it might be that, but the problem isn't with the buttons. It's with the pointer going in the opposite direction of travel to the user's hand.

Yes, I assumed it's a wireless mouse, and that formerly she used a wired mouse/trackball/touchpad with the buttons towards the user/hand instead of with the user's hand resting over the mouse (though even modern wired mice have about the same ergonomics as that nowadays). Sorry I didn't explain my reasoning behind the answer; I wasn't just being flip.

ran a virus scan + mbam - : http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Paul Sauvé

@ nobus

i suppose she's using the left handed mouse option...

This will reverse the mouse butons, not the direction of the cursor ;-)

paulsauve - i have understood - no need to repeat...instead, better post a solution

ASKER

It's very unlikely to be a virus or malware. I installed Windows and Office myself. The drivers and games were also installed by me. Before installing any applications or games, I installed a license of Symantec EndPoint Security. My wife's mother is simply uses the PC to play Bridge and Chess. Besides turning it on and off, that's all she knows how to do. She does not have internet at her home, so it's unlikely to be a threat that was introduced after I gave the PC to her to take home.

Sandeep

Have you tried connecting same mouse on another PC and see if it still gives you problem? Mouse also could be at fault where its X and Y axis reading at fault causing this?

Also you can try to remove the Mouse from Device Manager.

Right Click on My Computer->Manage->Device Manager->Mice and Other pointing Devices

Simply delete/uninstall (Right Click and choose) whatever devices you list below.
Then in same window Right click at the Top and say Scan for Hardware Changes. This should again detect your Mouse and Windows may try install with correct drivers. If not then please provide the drivers by downloading from Internet or any CD you got along with that Mouse.

Installing updated drivers also could solve such problems

Hope this helps.

ASKER

Don't forget that the mouse worked perfectly for me while I had the PC (that was for a couple of weeks), so it's not a driver or hardware issue. We did try swapping-out the mouse with another one and it presented the same problem, so it's definitely not the mouse. Apparently the error occurred withing an hour of my Mother-In-Law setting it up at her home. She said that it worked fine for a while before the problem occurred. It can't have been caused by a Windows or driver update since she took it home, because she does not have internet.

since the mouse worked a while - it still can be the mouse
test with another one - there's surely one around - and it does not cost much
is it a laser USB mouse, or wireless?
if wireless - check the batteries also, and check that there is no cell phone near it

Have you worked through (exhausted) each of the options suggested ?

ASKER

Some of the solutions are not appropriate to the problem (eg. the left-handed mouse button settings). I have yet to call her to determine if the she is holding the mouse the correct way. Considering that she plugged in her old mouse to test it, I can only assume that she held it correctly because she never had any troubles with it on her old PC. However, I'll call her tomorrow and double-check.

You said that yesterday :-)

Will be facinated to hear what the resolution to this is

ASKER

I must admit that there is a reluctance to phone my Mother-in-Law (for all of the stereotypical reasons). However, I didn't neglect to call her today intentionally. It was just a very busy day with far more important things to attend to. Maybe tomorrow...

LOL

ASKER

Sorry for the delay in responding. Our town is flooding and we had to evacuate our home. Internet and telephone service (including mobile phones) has been down as well. Before that happened, while my wife was on the phone to her mother, I asked my wife to tell her mother to turn her mouse around 180 degrees to see if that helped. The response was that nothing was working and that the mouse pointer wasn't moving at all (as opposed to it moving in opposite directions previously). Afterwards, it occurred to me that she may have actually turned the mouse over (as instructed), but onto it's back so that the laser was pointing up. I guess we'll have to wait until I can have a physical look at the mouse when the Mother-in-Law brings the computer here for me to 'fix'.

can(t you have a look via Skype? that should help

ASKER

As mentioned in previous posts, her computer does not have internet connection.

LeeTutor

I've requested that this question be deleted for the following reason:

Not enough information to confirm an answer.

What a shame - I really wanted to know how this turned out :-)

Paul Sauvé

Our town is flooding and we had to evacuate our home. Internet and telephone service (including mobile phones) has been down as well.

That's bad news, I hope everything works out for the best. Good luck!

Well, hopefully their houses didn't float away. :-|

ASKER

You were almost right, Darr247. One house in Bundaberg (just South of here) actually did float away. It was lifted off its posts by the flood waters and deposited two blocks away. The image was all over the national TV news.

Anyway, back to the problem at hand. I still haven't had the chance to see the PC first-hand due to the flooding. The roads were cut in all directions, so we couldn't get to the computer. Luckily, the flood waters missed our house by only 1.5m, so everything here is still intact. I'm hoping to get to the computer sometime soon, but the roads are still under repair and it may be a few more weeks before we manage to get there.

Hopefully, the good Sirs at EE will be kind enough to leave this question open long enough for me to get the the PC (or for the PC to get to me) so that I can find out what the problem was.

ASKER

Answer is coming, but need more time. We were cut off by flood waters and the roads are currently under repair. We hope to be able to get to the PC soon and provide a resolution to this matter.

take your time, Wiltshire, EE will request you post something from time to time, but that's all

Sounds like you have more pressing issues
Take care

LeeTutor

I've requested that this question be deleted for the following reason:

Not enough information to confirm an answer.

ASKER

I finally managed to drive the 120km to visit my mothet-in-law.

One glimpse at the mouse was all I needed to determine the problem.

Despite many telephone calls asking her to explain the orientation of the mouse, I found that the mouse was in fact around the wrong way. The cord was pointing toward the user, rather than away.

According to the latest from the asker, the first reply had it about right.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28003832/Mouse-pointer-moving-in-opposite-to-physical-mouse-movement.html?anchorAnswerId=38804392#a38804392

First answer was absolutely correct

Bit of user orientation was all that
was required :-)

ASKER

The simplest solution is often the correct one. The physical distance and lack of user knowledge made it very difficult to solve without seeing it first-hand.

Another funny thing that turned out to be true was my suspicion about what she did when she was told to turn the mouse around the other way. When I got her to demonstrate what she did, she showed that she had flipped the mouse onto it's back so that the laser pointed skyward. No wonder it didn't work at all.