I've been using a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse for quite a while without any problems, until now!
When I'm typing letters are being missed out, I'm having to repeatedly click before I get a response. In the last quiz I played, out of 15 quesions I had 7 "you did not answer this quesion"!
My first thought was obviously to replace the batteries in both which I have done. The keyboard is working better now (though I'm still having to go back and fill in missing letters and spaces) but there has been no improvement in the mouses performance. Any ideas? Please bear in mind I am technically challenged!

Please don't laugh at me, I looked at the receiver and discovered a sheet of paper that was on top of it, once removed everything was back in working order

I was just about to reply with something about "resynchronizing the receiver". I'm glad your problem is solved. Happy typing!

It says something for the set-up that it partially worked with a sheet of paper over the receiver. The fact that it did is probably what made the problem not so obvious. If it hadn't worked at all, I expect you may have noticed the reason straightaway.

You're being very kind about my silliness

At least it was not an ID 10 T problem.

Post deleted by geotriv2

Lets not dwell on this folks. It was only a momentary understandable thing to happen. I guess most already know what ID 10 T means and it wasn't a case of that. Problem solved whatever, so I think that's that.

Hello geotriv2 - All contributions welcome (apart from maybe the one above) but could you please use capital letters where appropriate, perhaps not quite so many dots/exclamation marks in titles or posts and not any abbreviated words (plz for instance).

Thanks

Talking of mouses (I guess it is mice) I have a problem. Funny it seems to resolve itself for a while and then returns.
I am playing a game, say freecell. I click the pack to deal a new line and it deals two , very fast. It does this in other games too and it is annoying. It is as if it needs to be less sensitive to the touch
I have slowed it down using the advice on the site, but it still jumps like that. What do you think causes it?

Not sure about that. There is a Windows setting where files and folders can be opened with a single click but that shouldn't affect other things. Did you install software for the mouse? If so, have you looked for and option that might affect single/double clicking?

It might be a faulty mouse button. I've had trouble myself with this and managed to obtain and fit a new micro-switch inside the mouse. That's not an option if you aren't into that kind of repair though. I've read of other cases where a faulty micro-switch is the cause of the problem. Perhaps try another mouse, just in case.

Ah, thanks Thermoman I will.

Ok i deleted it. Sorry for that post.

Hi, all!

Actually, I seem to be having the same problems as the original poster. Sometimes, I am typing, and the keyboard/computer does not register that I hit a certain letter. For example, just typing this post, I had to type the "x" in "example" twice or three times before it registered. And it doesn't seem to be a keyboard issue, because I've had the problem with three keyboards now...I didn't keep replacing the keyboards because of this issue, that was a different reason. The previous two were plugged into the computer via the serial port (or keyboard port), and this one is wireless. Any ideas?

Some questions:

* Does it happen to all keys at sometime or another, or only some?
* It could be something to do with resources maybe. How much memory does the computer have?
* Do you have many programs running in the background and can any of them be closed down?
* What security programs do you have ...is there anything that blocks keyloggers for instance?

It might be worth doing a bit of computer 'housekeeping'. Clean up the disk by deleting unwanted files (.tmp for instance) and then doing a defrag. It might be as well to scan your computer with your spyware scanners just in case, also the AV program.

It does not seem to be a specfic key or set of keys. There's no rhyme-or-reason for when it decides to register a keystroke and when not to.

My comp has 496MB of DDRAM

Gotta check the programs running, I'll check on that.

Cox Internet Security Suite. A free program from my ISP which is Anti-virus, firewall, and anti-spyware. I also have Ad-aware. I don't know if any block keyloggers though, but I don't think so.

I had a similar problem with keys on my keyboard. Also certain random keys and sometimes a row of 4 or 5 would just stop working. In a day or two they would be fine. It was my keyboard. Have a new one and so far no more 'sleepy' keys.

OK, here is a list of all the processes running.

GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe
taskmgr.exe
iexplore.exe
scthemes.exe -- desktop images/screensaver
Ding.exe -- Southwest Airlines specials
YahooMessenger.exe
hkcmd.exe
hpzlsb10.exe
igfxtray.exe
ElkCtrl.exe
LVCOMSX.EXE
explorer.exe
IncMail.exe -- My email program
IMNotify.exe -- My email notifier
alg.exe
wdfmgr.exe
svchost.exe
PRISMXL.SYS
MDM.EXE
dvpapi.exe
CurtainSysSvcNt.exe
LVPrcSrv.exe
spoolsv.ee
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchot.exe
IMApp.exe -- has to do with my email prog.
svchost.exe
ctfmon.exe
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
AcroRd32.exe
prism.exe
System
System Idle Process

I don't know if this question is related, but what is svchost.exe? Sometimes, I can close down one or two, but if I close down the right/wrong one, my comp will restart. Any help is appreciated.

Oh, and my keyboard isn't having too much trouble right now, sometimes it seems worse later times of day. Does this make any sense?

Many of those are Windows processes. Svchost.exe is one of them. It is normal for more than one instance of it to be running at the same time. Carry out a Windows search for the file. It should be found only in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. If found anywhere other than that, suspect a trojan or virus. Also beware of close matches to that file name. 'Scvhost.exe' for example is a virus (see here).

It seems to me that there are some processes that don't need to be running. It's a bit difficult to pick all of them out from the Task Manager list though. Probably the best thing to look at is the number of icons located next to the clock in the Windows Task Bar (some may be hidden, click on the arrows if present). Each one of those icons represents a program running in the background.

Systems will vary but on mine I have 5 there:

* Skype(which I sometimes shut down anyway).
* Firewall.
* AV program.
* Sandboxie.
* A switchable (on or off) anti-keylogger.

Many installed programs love to put an icon next to the clock but they all take up memory. Some can be prevented from running in the background quite safely. What can be stopped is a bit of a science though and much has been written about the subject. I'll put a link to this site. Here can be found a comprehensive alphabetical list of programs that you might find running in the background. Advice is given on whether they can be prevented from running or not. See what information is given for your own running programs.

Also, click on the Windows Start Button and go to 'Programs > Startup'. Any shortcuts found there will start the associated program as the computer starts up. These shortcuts can normally be deleted. Alternatively, move (drag) them out of Startup and put them in a folder somewhere in case you ever want to put them back again. Other programs can be prevented from running in 'msconfig' as descibed here. Be sure of what a program does before unticking it and restarting the computer.

Whether all this will cure the keyboard trouble you have would remain to be seen. This is the kind of action that could work though.