Mouse and IE Explorer

Occasioanlly when I access IE Explorer the mouse goes crazy

If I try to move around the screen it will open whatever happens to be on the desktop and will not respond to where I try to move the mouse
The keyboard does not fully work either when it happens, sometimes I can use it to turn PC off other times it is ctrl+alt+del

Could this be a virus or just a driver problem

I've googled and cannot find anything in relation to this as a problem

It only happens when IE Explorer is open, never any other time
Each time I have to close the PC and stay out of IE Explorer
It does not happen every time I am in explorer though

stuart@buyingtolet.ie

PS It is the cursor that goes "mad" and not the mouse as that would be a problem

stuart said:

Occasioanlly when I access IE Explorer the mouse goes crazy

...

PS It is the cursor that goes "mad" and not the mouse as that would be a problem

Click to expand...

Can you clarify what you mean here as it's not clear?

The pointer/cursor seems to have a mind of its own
Opening documents on the desktop and moving in the opposite direction to the movement of the mouse

With regards to the PS, I relasied that if it was the mouse moving in all different directions then it would either be my arm that was in trouble or a ghost

stuart@buyingtolet.ie

Is it an infrared mouse (as opposed to the older roller-ball type)?

I found mine tending to do the same thing — but not just in IE — and the problem was solved by using a different mat. The silvery Dell-logo ones have a kind of prismatic pattern on them that can 'trick' the IR beam...

Yeah - an optical mouse works best on a solid coloured mouse mat in my experience.

Seems odd that the mouse (cursor!) would misbehave in IE only which would seem to rule out problems with the mouse itself, drivers, video driver etc. Hmmm....

That's why I thought it might be a virus affecting the mouse settings but nothing on google about a virus casuing this

It is an (very) old roller ball mouse and I can assure you it is only on IE

Happened twice this morning when opening IE but not since, thankfully

When you say it only happens with IE do you mean that when IE runs the erratic behaviour occurs and that the erratic behaviour is confined to within the IE window(s) but it works OK elsewhere? Or does the erattic behaviour happen everywhere (e.g. on the desktop and in other apps) once IE is running? Does this happen every time or only sporadically? Also, once this happens and you close IE (if you can't do this with the mouse then use Alt+Tab to put the focus on IE and then Alt+F4 to close it) do things go back to normal?

the erattic behaviour happen everywhere (e.g. on the desktop and in other apps) once IE is runningNot before but everything is erratic from them on

Closing IE does not solve the problem
The computer has to be switched off as it continues to be complicated

stuart@buyingtolet.ie

Have you scanned for IE specific parasites, viruses etc.? If you are using XP you could try rolling back to an earlier System Restore point to see if that helps. Are you up to date with Service Packs and Windows Updates? Of course using something like FireFox might be one way to avoid the problem other than when you can only use IE for certain sites. Check the Task Manager process list before and after launching IE just in case anything other than the IE executable is being launched. Could you try another mouse and ideally substitute a USB connected one for your current PS2 connected one (or whatever)? Anything useful among these MS support links (see those that mention the word "erratic")?