I have a wireless Apple mice but the trackball stopped working. I tried to clean it with many things but none worked. During WPPI I purchased cleaning solvent for my sensor and tried it on the trackball.... It worked!! Now the trackball works like new.

So if you have the same problem try the sensor cleaning solvent and see if it helps you.

oh its sooo hard. i lick my finger and wipe it on the track ball. then i take my bathrobe sleeve and rub it very hard, up and down and up and down. done.

apple mice are all optical now.... How old is your mouse? Optical mice don't have this problem...

That part is technically optical (inside the mouse), but the trackball still moves and gets gunk in it. Most solvents will work for a while, but then it just dies. Bad design. It should be bigger than a pea, like it is, now. Better yet, you should be able to remove it like a regular trackball.

But anyway, go ahead and clean it with Eclipse or something. It'll keep it working for now. Just be prepared for it to die.

i use a sliver of double stick tape. thread it in, roll the ball and it pulls out the gunk.

I'm still completely lost here guys, there's NO trackball in an optical mouse to get dirty and stop rolling.... what am i missing? trackballs are a thing of the past - especially for apple wireless mice....???

My mice is about 8 month old. We are talking about the tiny ball in top of the Apple mice. That is a trackball and when it gets dirty it stops working.

Actually, it was dead for a while. I tried everything and I have given up. I had a dead track ball.

But I decided to try Eclipse and I was amazed that my trackball came back to life.

So, if anyone has a dead trackball try Eclipse and you may get some more milage out of it.

Ohhh kay what you're referring to is the scroll wheel/ball - a trackball is different, but i can see how it could be mistaken. My mistake.

Good luck

It's the Mighty Mouse.

Rubbing Alcohol & a Q-Tip will fix this problem. It will also fix the scroll ball on a blackberry.

there are tons of threads on this at the apple site - everyone very unhappy with this problem. i sent my first one back when i got my imac, but then later discovered it is a design error/glitch whatever. seriously, lick your finger and rub it on the scroll ball or whatever it is, then wipe it vigorously with your tshirt, going up and down while holding the mouse still.

its a good idea to wash your hands before using it - lotions, oils, etc. are what mess it up. you have natural oils on your skin and from touching yourself you then transfer it to the ball and eventually.....

quick solution - use a graphics tablet. not only will it not bind up (no moving parts!) but your wrist is in a much more natural position holding the stylus than it is holding a mouse. i use my tablet in place of a mouse, for everything including editing. it's quite possibly the best ~$250 i've ever spent.

I disagree. My hand gets much more cramped from using a stylus. On my work machine I use a (real) trackball. But they're hard to find with the right shape and size. The ball should be at least 2 inches in diameter and ideally the buttons on the sides rather than the top. Kensington used to have a great one but it's discontinued. Their Expert Mouse is a close second, though.

Contour designs has a fantastic mouse that's either left- or right-handed and comes in 4 or 5 different sizes. I used a left-handed one for a long time at a former job. I use the trackball in my left hand, too, for that matter.

Maybe if I could find a stylus for my Intuos that was fatter it would work better for me.

adam - i think they make a fatter stylus. go to http://wacom.com and check :-)

In my case, it didn't...