most likley there is a break in the cable, mice are like that, unless it's a wireless affair. in which case you may need to change the batteries. also explorer should consume about 2% of resources when idle, it may fluctuate slightly but it should never suck 99% of your CPU (unless your using a 386 LOL). system idle time should hover around the 90 - 100 % mark when sitting on the desktop. higher CPU usage than normal usually indicates the presence of a virus, trojan, spyware etc. these infected system files do not show up as running tasks, Run an Anti Spyware utility on your machine as some of the newer spyware is registry based an can be quite difficult to locate by hand. my brother recently had a similar CPU usage problem which effects everything from CD / DVD burning to acceptable surfing speeds.
also winamp causes stress on DBC.
as does windows messenger.
i use MSCONFIG from the RUN command in the start menu to trim all the fat from the boot procedure. another tip is to optimize your pc for background tasks. this is known to increase system intensive functions, such as 3D gaming.
also if your mouse is playing up, don't use it. you'll cause more damage than it's worth!! Purchase another one right away. 3 years for a mouse is good!!
regards, geecee.
it's faster than shite off a hot shovel, honest.