Optical Mice

Most computers now use optical mice, the ones that have a glowing red light beneath them. These are far more reliable and accurate than their predecessors, the mechanical mice (the ones that ride on a rubber ball).

Most people don’t realize this: an optical mouse doesn’t require a mouse pad. What an optical mouse does require is an opaque surface that is white or light in color. Also, optical mice sometimes have trouble tracking on a perfectly-solid-colored surface.

So if you’re using an all-black mouse pad with your optical mouse, you’re actually diminishing the performance of your mouse, not helping it! (The black mouse pads with the light-gray Dell logo in the center do work reasonably well, though.) In general, we recommend disposal of mouse pads unless a particular desk or keyboard tray surface won’t allow an optical mouse to track well.

Here's another reason to toss out your mouse pad: not only do mouse pads often reduce mouse accuracy, but they are usually loaded with germs and bacteria from years of use…a Petri dish for dirty hands. Using a paper towel, you can apply a small amount of hand disinfectant to the outside of a mouse to kill germs, but mouse pads are best left in the garbage.