The pea-sized scroll ball in the hermetically sealed Apple Mighty Mouse gives some people pause (”how am I going to clean the damn thing?”), but I haven’t had any problems with my Mighty Mouse—until today. This morning, eating breakfast at my desk while surfing, the ball went slippery on me, my finger sliding over it without that satisfyingly faint clicking sound and without scrolling my browser window. The Apple support site advises, in “How to clean your Mighty Mouse,” that you should clean your Mighty Mouse with a clean lint-free cloth moistened with water, while also warning that “the mouse contains electronic components that may be damaged if water drips from the cloth into the mouse via the seam around the scroll ball or around its underside.”
Here’s my solution: I cleaned it with an antistatic cleaning wipe from Staples (but any antistatic cleaning wipe will do). These babies are barely moistened and they’re flammable, i.e., they evaporate quickly. Now my Mighty Mouse is clicking and scrolling as good as new.
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10 Responses to “How to Clean Your Apple Mighty Mouse”
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January 11th, 2006 at 6:50 am
The Mighty mouse works good, IF it works. The small ball gets quick dirty. I had problems after one Month already and brought it back. After six weeks I get it back and it works again, but to bad only one week. I can scroll up, left and right, but not down.
They told me to clean the ball with alcohol, but after cleaning , it still don’t works. The mini mouse from 7 euro works still after 2 years.
January 11th, 2006 at 10:14 am
The only problem I’ve had with my Mighty Mouse is that I do have to wipe the ball down with an antistatic wipe every couple of weeks, as I describe in this post. It’s a hassle, but a minor one IMHO, and otherwise my Mighty Mouse works great. But I was disappointed Steve didn’t announce a Bluetooth version yesterday.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
My Mighty Mouse was not doing downward vertical scrolling, but everything was working–so, I cleaned the scroll pea with rubbing alcohol and a very clean and dry cotton kitchen towel (called a “bar mop” at Wal-Mart, where they are sold), wetting the cotton towel with a little bit of the rubbing alcohol. It took a few minutes of rotating the scroll pea with the cotton towel and rubbining alcohol–but, after a while, the mouse started scrolling correctly. This was the first time I had cleaned the mouse this way, and it looks like it works very nicely. It probably makes a bit of sense to clean the scroll pea a bit more frequently than every six to eight weeks.
April 21st, 2006 at 6:51 am
Thanks, i’ll try that.
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:58 pm
The static free cloth worked great. My mighty mouse is back to being the star it was born to be. Thanks for the tip.
November 23rd, 2006 at 10:57 am
i used a clean A4 paper, turned mouse upside down and rolled mighty mouse against paper for about 3 seconds and everythings fine now. couldn’t get it clean with clean cloth, moist cloth (water or cd cleaning solution)
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:17 am
Maccist, I’ll have to try that. In a pinch, I just rub the scroll ball vigorously with my shirttail.
June 29th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Hey there,
Just coming up on my first anniversary with my mighty mouse. Had noticed a few intermittent stoppages with my mighty mouse …always can free a fter a moment or two.
The upside down alone didn’t work but used a bit of methyl hydrate …and it works like a charm. Rubbed a bit on and then proceeded to rotate on clean cloth. Works fine. Not sure if the methyl will destroy the ball but it seems good as new now.
Cheers
scott
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Tried cleaning the scroll ball on clean A4 paper, and it worked worked.
Thanks Maccist
August 24th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Paper trick works perfect on a wireless mighty mouse and a wireless mouse, try a bit of spit too!