dlish

ok now that ive got yor attention

while i was surfing TFP my mouse started to play up..it was the dreaded mouse ball filled with gunk on the rollers.. so i opened up the mouse and cleaned it using some tweezers. it had been a long while..maybe 1 year since i cleaned it last..so all that crap was an accumulation of a years worth of shit on my desk.

which left me with a question... how often do you clean your balls and what with?

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Carno

Laser mouse baby! Never!

But whenever I go to my school's computer lab I open them up and check every time.

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JumpinJesus

I use a mouse with no balls so I don't have to worry about it.

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aberkok

Even though I know that most people have hairy balls, I still like to make sure mine are at least clean. My wife tells me she doesn't mind so much when my balls are dirty, but I think that's because the movement feels so good, because of regular ball cleaning, that she doesn't notice when they are a bit dirty.

I, on the other hand, can't wait to get in there every day to rub some gunk out of my balls. Over time, I'm worried that this obsessive ball cleaning might lead to a loss of sensation and accuracy.

Oh, silly me... I've been referring to my balls in the plural when in actual fact I have only one in the mouse for the desktop (laptop we use an optical mouse). Why would I make such a silly mistake?

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ironman

Mine is an optical mouse, but back in he time when i used ball mice, i cleaned their balls as soon as i noticed a decrease in their functionality, like skippings or jumpings.

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sailor

My mouse is castrated.

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AquaFox

i clean my balls every day


i love my wireless laser mouse

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Kadath

Laser mouse is the shit. I can never go back. I have an optical for both my desktop and my laptop. On the whole I like the Microsoft one better than the Logitech one, as I have big hands and the MS one fits my hand better.

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soccerchamp76

Optical mouse, but before that, anytime I noticed it skipping.

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CSflim

Another vote for "no balls" here.

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theguyondacouch

optical for wuite a while now. now ball mouses always seem jumpy to me, no matter how good they are.

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Siege

Optical now. But used to just open her up and finger it til it was clean.

Ok that sounded weird.

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FngKestrel

Back when I had balls, I'd do it when I was procrastinating on studying. I'd check the bottom and clean the feet and crack the hole open and swab the rollers with rubbing alcohol.

Coppertop

Mark me down as another eunuch user.

freeload

Optical for me

/wiping toothpaste off the keayboard

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MSD

I have an optical trackball and I lift the thing out, clean the 3 bearings, and polish fingerprints and grease off the ball every time I sit down and whenever the rolling becomes less than perfectly smooth (every 20 minutes or so.)

I'm mildly obsesive-compulsive, but it's also because the ball gets snagged easily if I don't do it.

ryfo

opt ical here,altho when i used to have balls my wife was always on at me about the 'dust bunnies'

snowy

I have an optical wireless and I've had optical mice for so long, I don't remember ever cleaning balls.

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Etarip

Never have I been so proud to say I have no balls.... ( laser rocks, best reason for getting a laser mouse: no ball cleaning )

Mauser

Another vote for the optical route! Once a year I take a Q-tip to the lens and I'm good for another 12 months. Plus no moving parts so the only thing to worry about is the buttons and wheel! My first Microsoft optical lasted about 5 years, and this one I'm expecting to bite the dust in 2009.

FngKestrel

Laser vs LED, is laser that much more superior?

smooth

I lost my balls long ago.
My grandparents and my friend, however, freeball it.

Their balls always feel a bit gunky whenever I wrap my warm hand around them, which I do whenever I visit their homes. I guess I should offer to clean their balls, it just seems like the polite thing to do in retrospect.

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dlish

hahaha gotta love some of these responses, but you gotta love seiges one best

ive never been ball-less, so ive never used a laser one..dunno what it feels like in the hand.

my mouse is running ok, but its still not perfect yet..maybe i need to play around with the ball a bit till its done right

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Roark

Best thing to use with those type of mouses once you take the ball out is a pencil eraser on the rollers to get all the lint/dirt off then just blow it out.

SecretMethod70

Thankfully, I've never had a mouse with balls. These days, there's just no reason to. A cheap optical mouse can be had for $10...of course, I'd recommend getting something of better quality anyway.

A quick note, there have been a few posts in this thread which have called the "optical" mouse a "laser" mouse. These are two different things (the misnomer is only important to note now because Logitech - and perhaps others I don't know about - is making actual laser mouse products). As it stands, I am only aware of two mouse products that are actually "laser."

Yes. It's been awhile since I've looked up the info (I got my Logitech MX1000 near the end of the summer) but there is definitely a difference and an improvement. The laser is FAR more accurate than the LED and, because of that, I am able to use my MX1000 laser mouse on a white, reflective surface which my previous mouse, the MX500 optical mouse, could not work on.

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Pip

Whenever it's needed, that is, when it starts to run choppy. I took my keyboard apart and cleaned it thoroughly with alcolhol a few months ago, it was like getting a brand new keyboard! The amount of gunk was unbelievable.

Redlemon

Someone has to post it, so it might as well be me.

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Braingrenade

I have had an optical mouse for a year, but I would rather have one with balls. (all the computer stores I have visited, have completely discarded sellin good ball mice - so I'm stuck with this.
I think that the laser is a bit too unprecise for my daily work.. Logitech MX 510(Graphics, and such..) So I have to switch back and forth to my wacom pen... *frustrated*

VitaminH

They still make mice with balls in them???

And for the record, Optical Mouse !=laser

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Charlatan

Unlike the eunichs that appear to have found a nest in the TFP I still have balls...

I like to clean my balls on a regular basis but usually it is times when I am bored... I flip open and give it a couple of scratches with my fingernail... if it's really dirty I will get out the q-tips and give it a really good go.

Nothing like the feel of nice clean balls on my glass surfaced desk. Smooth.

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nukeu666

when i had balls, used to clean em every week

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texxasco

Cordless, optical mouse here..... been so long since I had a mouse with balls. If I remember right I used alcohol and Q-tips,and that usually did the trick. Once a week or so ought to keep your balls rolling just fine.

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Mantus

Get out of the Dark Ages! An optical mouse costs like $20

Slyboots

I would have to say that I would clean it every so often. I ended up breaking one of my mice and decided it was time to get a laser mouse. I find it to be a bit more convinet since I don’t have to worry about what’s going to dirty up my ball.

Hehe, i thought this was going to be a dirty topic when I first came here.

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