gdgt

What technique do you use to clean your Mighty Mouse trackball? I bought a box of alcohol swabs from a local drugstore and about once a month I turn off the mouse, cover the trackball with a swab, then press down firmly and roll away. After about 10 seconds and my mouse is squeaky clean! I've been doing this for over a year with no problems.

Recently I found the Apple Support recommended technique is to hold the mouse upside down and roll over the trackball with a damp lint-free cloth. Has this worked well for anybody?

I just turn it off, turn it upside down, and rolled it around (some, but not too much downward force) on a clean lint free tablecloth, so that's close to Apple's solution. Works for me!

i roll it on a bright white thick piece of paper . . . and that seems to do the trick pretty dang good . . . i just rub it till its stops leaving black marks on the paper

I steal my sister's nail varnish remover, put it on a cloth, etc.

It is really really annoying!!! Otherwise it would be a great mouse! As such I use a M$ mouse!

All,

Cleaning the track ball and the paper method do work, but it's only a temporary measure.

The crux of the problem is inside the hardware and that means opening up your Mighty Mouse. Basically, four small wheels corresponding to scroll up, down, left and right turn when the track ball moves. These magnetic wheels pick up the dirt over time and no amount to external cleaning will remove this dirt!

The good news is that the process is very simple and will only take an hour or so. The rules say I can't post tiny url's etc.. and rules is rules. If anyone wants a link to the YT video demo I used to fix my mouse, just send me a message derm8472 and I will provide the link. I was just about to give up on my Mighty Mouse and then I just took the plunge, opened it and it's like brand new. This is child's play compared to up-grading memory in a Mac Mini.

My original Mighty Mouse eventually stopped scrolling no matter how much I cleaned it. Turning it upside down and cleaning it on my pants used to do the trick before then

The easiest solution is to unplug the Mighty Mouse and take it to your closest e waste recycler. Buy a real scroll wheel mouse from Logitech or even a no name brand and save yourself a lot of wasted effort trying to open or clean this little beast.

Of all the wonderful things Apple has designed, they have never made an easy to use, reliable mouse.

Buy an alcohol solution, drop some into the trackball hole and clean away with the mouse upside down... always worked for me...

also note that the alcohol must be in it's purest form so it doesn't leave any residues behind...

My best solution is to REGULARLY clean my trackball (I do it weekly) by unplugging, turning the mouse upside down and applying enough pressure to depress the trackball, and rolling it in a circular motion on a post-it. If it gets too gunked up, just exchange the post-it for a moist cloth. Never had an issue with the mouse failing outright, just predictably gets junk in there that needs to be cleaned out. Not rocket science. Hopefully we won't have to deal with this much longer. . .see my post on the Mighty Mouse update that should be forthcoming this year. . .

i take it apart and clean it regularly as it gets disgusting!
i also removed the side click buttons cause i keep hitting them on accident

I put rubbing alcohol on a qtip, and then rub it around on the trackball. The Qtip picks up dirt, and the alcohol dries quickly.

My usual method is the same as many other people here; rolling it upside down on paper. But the isopropyl/acetone ideas seem good, and as I find that my trackball is sticking more than ever, I might try that soon. I'll probably also try it on my phone's trackball. :]

i do as the others do and flip it over and rub it one a white pice of paper.......when i read this it sounds wierd...but thats what i do

i thought my mouse had died, so i brought it to the Apple Store and they did the same method as the original poster. Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol. Works well, only needs to be done once every couple months (depending on hand cleanliness i suppose)

i give it a nice bubble bath . . . light a few candles . . . put on some sweet sweet mouse music . . . and let it rest . . .

I use lens cleaner type clothes that are wet ( rubbing alcohol type wet not water). Hold it upside down and roll the trackball over it. Also a can of air seems to help.