Why Apple's Mighty Mouse is like the Apple III

A little windex on a cloth works..

comments you dont like get deleted? just wash your hands and your mouse will be fine, mine is! friends that have them report no problems! just hit the sanitizer once in a while!

Just chiming in that I've had my Mighty Mouse since it was released, and never had any problems with it. I've never even noticed anything. I came to this article from Digg, thinking it would be more philosophical (maybe a few words on how the shape is not that ergonomic), but instead it's just a complaint about a sticky trackball...weird.

I opened my Mighty Mouse open and cleaned it up. I had to use a bit of superglue to get the foot at the bottom stuck back on but it worked a treat, only took about 15 minutes to do, and it's been working perfectly for the past 6 months or so.

I tell you though, the amount of crap that gets stuck inside is amazing. It was clogged to the hilt with black stuff. Kinda like the roller wheels on old-style mice, only the wheels were absolutely tiny so it took much much less to clog them up.

I wouldn't reccomend opening your Mighty Mouse up though if you've got no other backup option, like another mouse.

I've had a MM since March, and have never had a problem with the ball getting dirty. The only two problems I have ever noticed on mine are very rarely, maybe once every month or so, the scroll ball will stop scrolling down...only up; this quickly goes away however.
The second has to do with the fact that sometimes the mouse is confused as to whether I'm left or right clicking, but that's because I'm not always pressing my fingers clearly to either side.

I've become spoiled on the side buttons, though.

Gunk in your Scroll ball? I've had mine 6 months and it's good as new. Maybe you're not as clean as you think you are!

scrolling is fine ...
right clicking is a bit hard ...
have to press exactly there ... or its a left click ...
if not for that ... great mouse ...

What I don't understand is that they'd be dumb enough to have a ball mouse where you can't take the ball out and clean it. It's basic common sense.

Even with my optical mouse, I have to clean it every while or so with some rubbing alcohol. Anything that touches the hands, no matter how 'clean' your hands are, is going to get dirty, especially with a lot of moving and fondling.

I solved my Mighty Mouse problems by giving it to my sister for use with her MacBook. I couldn't deal with the little wheel. Personally, besides it getting stuck all the time, I didn't really find the ball ergonomically pleasing to my fingertips after prolonged use (don't jump on me for that, but after 8 hours of using Photoshop your fingertip is sore). I just bought a badass Logitech, and the problem was solved.

Apple's instructions are a little unclear on the correct Cleaning procedures. What you need is a Kitchen Towel (not the Paper kind) or if you don't have any a Cotton T-Shirt will do. Dab some Water on the cloth and then wring it out so that it only feels wet. Stretch it flat on a Table now take you Mouse and placing the small Ball down Press Firmly on the Maus so that Dashboard would be aktivated. Now Run the maus as if you would be painting Circles. Keep up a steady pressure on the Ball, You should actually see tracks in the Cloth. Keep it up for about 30 Second and then change directions. Then do a number of back and forth and Right and left. It is important to take the time. That way the moisture from the Towel can be transported into the maus and help to brake up the Gunk. If you have been eating to much popcorn and chips and drinking Soda at the Computer, you might ad a touch of Kitchen soap to the wet area of the Cloth before wringing so that oil in the Gunk will brake up. You will need a different area of the Cloth without soap to rinse.

PS: don't forget to unplug or if you have a Bluetooth Maus switch it off or you might be surprised bei what is happening on your Computer.