What is wrong with my mouse?

[Archaon]

There's something very strange going on with my mouse wheel. Quite frequently, whenever I roll it, it seems to register that I've actually pressed the middle button and the left button, so the little circle with the up and down arrows appears and the computer acts as though I've just clicked whatever the cursor's over.

Even more bizarre is the fact that if this happens while the cursor's in anything with a "Back" button (such as Firefox or Windows Explorer), the computer seems to think I've clicked the button and responds accordingly.

I honestly have no idea what's going on here. I mean, the fact that the computer randomly thinks I've pressed two buttons on the mouse when all I've done is move the wheel could just be attributed to the mouse going wonky, but what would cause it to think I've clicked "Back"? I know you can program the buttons on certain types of mouse to do different things, including certain browser functions, but this is not one of them. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

[kitty]

Your mouse wheel might be dislodged from its original position. Find a screwdriver and open the thing up. Mice are really simple in design so the wheel should be able to be picked up and placed back into position. Just watch out for any kind of spring that keeps the mouse wheel from spinning too much that might fall out.

For your second problem, I have no idea.

[progman32]

what would cause it to think I've clicked "Back"?

IIRC, Firefox/IE do their own back-forwards thing with mice. Many mice can detect when you push the wheel sideways (perpendicular to regular scrolling), IE and FF automatically interpret it as back & forward. Maybe your mouse is messed up in such a way that it thinks that it's scroll wheel is being tilted...