How to calibrate your mouse's X/Y in Windows Vista

Question

I've just installed a new Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000 and it's X/Y calibration/alignment seems to be off.

If I move the mouse from left to right, the cursor will go up and down slightly. If I move the mouse from top to bottom, the cursor will also move from left to right slightly too.

I seem to remember in earlier version of Windows or Intelli Point, there was a calibration tool which would fix this issue.

Can anyone help?

Many Thanks Stephen

Answer 1

I've seen some references to some cases where mouse calibration problems in Vista are being caused by the pointer scheme.

Apparently this can be fixed by going into Control Panel -> Mouse -> Pointers -> Schemes and setting schemes to "None".

Answer 2

The only way I can think of now is to go through the standard check-list of what might be wrong with the mouse / computer:

Does this mouse show the same behaviour when attached to different workstations, and do other mice behave normally in this workstation?

If the problem is down to a dodgy mouse (maybe the sensor is somehow mis-aligned and it was ignored at QA checks) then I'd suggest getting a replacement from the supplier.

If other (same model) mice have the same problem on this computer, then it's likely to be a driver problem. Reinstalling the drivers completely may fix this.

From what I can find, mouse calibration tools don't really exist any more - at least not in the same way that they do for touch-screens interfaces, and these are only really required because the finger or stylus is touching the sensitive layer above the screen so from the users perspective they can appear to be off.

Edit:
I've just found this which apparently allows you to invert or (more usefully for your case) rotate the orientation of the mouse. However, it looks like it's got a bit of a shareway license, so might demand money or stop working.

Answer 3

Have you tried the Microsoft site for Hardware and Software for Keyboard and Mice? You can download the intellipoint soft there and try to calibrate it.

Answer 4

I remember that wizard, a long time ago - but I still feel it was a bit weird.

If the steering wheel of a car doesn't have its logo exactly horisontal when going exactly forwards - it's not like it's a problem steering the car? Unless the mouse is completely rectangular, how do you even know exactly, on such a small degree, what is suppose to be exactly up on it? ^^

I usually use my mouse rotated ~0-90 degree in any direction depending on the hand in respect to the screen and constantly shift the angle slightly because it will be moved in arcs - it's a relative device so your hand-eye coordination should calibrate itself and adapt, in my opinion.

I've looked around without finding anything except similar questions or April fools jokes, but it could be a fun coding project - to re-create a generic mouse orientation wizard...

Answer 5

Change the Precision boost in the intellipoint software. It's likely you have it set too sensitive for general use. Make sure you have the latest version of intellipoint (available here: Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Hardware - Download Software

Answer 6

Its possibly a bad batch.

I had some friends get new computers all at once from the same supplier and they all got Microsoft mice for them.

However, they had an interesting flaw in them where the mouse would randomly report exponential speed increases.

For a test, I set up a image with a square box 1/3rd of the width of the screen, and spent 10 minutes just drawing circles inside that box, and found it impossible to stay inside the box.

As usual, Microsoft Knowledge Base articles on the subject were useless, they suggested simply upgrading the drivers, which were already up to date, or using "mouse smoothing". Neither of these solutions worked of course, because the mouse was sending errors that were 3 times larger than any reasonable movement that could be expected from a user.( ie: how are you going to smooth out noise that is greater than signal ? )

Also, as this symptom occurred on non-windows platforms as well as windows platforms, I found the windows-only solutions unacceptable in principal, and requested replacements from the suppliers. ( They replaced them with equivalent Logitechs, which JustWorked as expected ).

Notedly, these weren't exactly high end mice so manufacturing defects are more expected of them, but the concept still holds. IMHO, your mouse has a manufacturing default, and should be subject to warranty replacement.