If you’re like us, you’re probably navigating your Mac with Apple’s Mighty Mouse. And like us, you occasionally find yourself unable to scroll up or down while viewing a web page, scrolling through a document, or looking at your iPhoto collection. It’s annoying and has raised our blood pressure more than once. Fear not! There’s a quick and easy way to “unstick” a scroll ball that is being difficult.
There’s no need to take your mouse apart, you can probably fix the issue with a few simple tricks. First, flip your mouse upside down and rub it with a slightly damp paper towel or cloth. This should help break up some of the grime stuck beneath the scroll bar. However, if you’re mouse is being stubborn (or you’ve eaten too many Cheetos near the computer), you might need to bring out the big guns.
The second option requires you holding the mouse upside down while pressing the scroll ball down and blasting it with a few squirts of compressed air. If done right, this should free your mouse of all of the gunk gremlins that are living just below the surface. If this doesn’t work, the last resort is to take the mouse apart and thoroughly clean the device, eliminating all of the troublesome residue collected inside. Hopefully it doesn’t come to this, because this can be a tedious pain in the mouse. If you are unlucky enough to have to take apart your Mighty Mouse, Ars Technica has a great article on the subject that should help you through the process.
Good luck, and happy scrolling!
