Morning Gripe: my mouse doesn't listen to me

There's something messed up with my mouse at work. I've suspected that my computer has been experiencing performance problems for a while. One of the key symptoms is unresponsive mouse clicks.

To be clear, mouse clicks are unresponsive, but mouse movements are not. This occurs when my workstation is under medium to high load. I can understand programs not responding when the system resources are not available. That shouldn't be often though, this should only be when the processor is pegged.

I began suspecting a problem with the mouse drivers, some version of the Microsoft Intellipoint drivers, because the system seems to ignore some clicks. I was able to rule out the system resources by plugging in a wired mouse and leaving it over by my left hand. This is one of the times when being left handed is awesome--I can take over control with the wired mouse with my left hand and force clicks if the gremlins decide it's time to ignore the right mouse.

It's frustrating when the computer doesn't accept my input. I kind of take it personally. When I use the computer I expect it to obey my every command without exception. It's my kingdom. My click is law damnit. The mouse is trying to subvert my authority. I curse that mettlesome mouse.

I don't think it is a mechanical issue or a battery issue. For the most part the mouse does its job. It only seems to fail when I use it to switch between programs.

The thing that makes me think it's a driver issue is that I'm on XP64. I don't think that XP64 drivers are all that well maintained. It's a minor operating system and the focus of drivers tend to be on either regular XP or Vista.

I would use the other mouse, however it only has 3 buttons. I prefer the non-wired mouse because it has a tilt wheel and 5 buttons.

My compromise is to buy a new mouse with lots of buttons and let it run on the regular drivers.