Sticky Balls?

                        By James Judge

Probably one of the most important objects used by people who play
adventures etc. (us in other words) is the humble mouse. Yes, that
small box that fits under your hand when you're playing games like
Dungeon Master and Legend.

There are literally hundreds of different mice that you can choose
from, whatever your computer may be, but the worst you'll probably
get is the one bundled with your computer.

These mice, well the Atari one, don't have a very long life span
compared to other mice so you will soon be wanting a new one. As I
said there are loads of different mice on the market and the most
popular one is probably the Naksha mouse.

But this article isn't about buying a mouse it's about looking
after one.

Let's face it we don't take proper care of these small
contraptions as much as we should. You probably wait until the
mouse is grinding across the mouse mat until you bother to clean
it out and you don't really care what surface you use it on.

All of these things add up to the final death of your mouse and
another 15+ quid going to buy a good replacement (you DO want a
good replacement, don't you?)

So to lengthen your mouse's life and help your enjoyment of games
and serious software follow these pearls of wisdom:

(1) Don't drop your mouse too often.  A couple of times won't hurt
it but if you regularly, for no reason at all, send it off the
edge of the table doing a wonderful Lemmings impression it will
break quite soon.

(2) About once every two months open up the bottom, take the ball
out and, with something that isn't sharp (a piece of an old credit
card is ideal), scrape away any gunk that has formed around the
rollers. Don't use metal objects as you will scratch the rollers.

(3) Don't use any liquids when cleaning out the mouse as this can
ruin it.

(4) Try and get a hard mouse mat, especially if you've got pets,
because they are easier to clean and don't pick up as much dust
and hair as the material/foam mats do.

(5) Don't pick the mouse up by its 'tail' as it can make some of
the wires loose.

(6) Give your mouse a name, make it feel wanted.

(7) Don't get together with other mouse owners and play marbles
with the balls.

I know all of this is common sense but it is surprising how many
people's common sense can abandon them when it comes to mice.