What to do when your computer mouse stops working (Windows PC)? 

A mouse is a hand-held input device that follows your hand movements using motion sensor and work on the Graphical User Interface (GUI) according to it. 

In recent days we mainly use two types of computer mouse 1. Wired mouse 2. Wireless mouse. 

Wired mouse: we connect wired mouse directly to our desktop or laptop using cord. The ports we use to connect them are USB, PS2. 

Wireless mouse: wireless mouse does not use cord. We connect them to our desktop or laptop using either Bluetooth or USB receiver. 

When I am saying computer mouse stops working it means either the mouse pointer stops moving when you move your hand, or mouse is not detected by your Windows system. 

Scenario 1: In the first scenario let's think of a situation where you are working on a system and suddenly you notice that your mouse pointer (wired mouse or wireless mouse) is not moving anymore. This type of situation occurs when your computer system freezes due to many different reasons like software and hardware conflict. 

If so, try to forcefully shut down your PC by long pressing the power button of your laptop or desktop. Restart again to check if the problem is gone. Also, you have to find out which software or hardware might cause this Windows freeze situation and then fix it. 

Scenario 2: If your mouse (no matter it is a wired one or a wireless one) is not detected by your Windows system, means you are not seeing mouse pointer anywhere on your PC screen then what should you do. 

First you have to make sure that the mouse is not faulty. To know it, connect your mouse to a different computer. In case if it is a wireless mouse then first replace the batteries and then try to connect it to a different PC. Batteries are the main power source of a wireless mouse, so you have to change old batteries first. Wired computer mouse gets power from the laptop or desktop. So, you can directly connect them to a different PC. 

If the mouse is working fine on a different PC but not working on your PC, it means it is not faulty. 

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Solution: 

a) Try a different USB PORT to connect the mouse. This will solve the problem if it was due to a bad USB port. (Modern computers do not use PS2 mouse). 

If you are using a wireless mouse, make sure that the Bluetooth or USB receiver is not faulty.  

b)  If nothing helps (USB PORTS are ok, Bluetooth or USB receiver is not faulty) then this is the last step you can try before sending the mouse for a repair or before buying a new one.  

In this last step you have do everything with the help of your computer keyboard as your mouse is okay but not working on your PC. If you are using a laptop then it is easy for you because you can use laptop's touchpad, but desktop users have to do it with the help of keyboard only. 

In this step, first unplug the mouse or in case of wireless mouse, disconnect the mouse connection. Next, you have to uninstall the driver from DEVICE MANAGER. 

To do it just using the keyboard, press Windows button from your keyboard. Now in the search area type 'Device Manager' and hit enter. This will bring up the Device Manager. 

Then press the TAB key from the keyboard, it will then select the device manager menu. Use down arrow key from your keyboard and select 'Mice and other pointing devices' option. 

To see all the submenus under 'Mice and other pointing devices', press right arrow key from the keyboard. 

Now, select your mouse device from the menu using up and down arrow key and hit enter. This will bring up your mouse properties window. 

To select the General tab in this window, press the TAB key three times. When 'General' tab is selected use the right arrow key to go to the Driver tab. 

When you are on driver tab, use TAB key on your keyboard to select 'Uninstall Device'. Then hit enter to uninstall it. When done, turn off your PC. 

After turning the PC off, connect the wired mouse again and then start the computer. Windows will automatically detect it and install the required driver. 

If it is a wireless mouse, then just uninstall the device from device manager using keyboard and then restart the PC.