Cleaning the mouse to fix insonsistent scroll wheel operation
A Logitech M331 mouse, which spent the last couple of years in the corner of a desk drawer is back in regular use. While the clicky bits and the cursor movements worked just fine after this break; the scroll wheel proved to be annoyingly inconsistent in its functioning. Fiddling with the OS mouse settings had no perceptible effect. A spirited cleaning session that involved blowing air in the gaps between the buttons and the scroll wheel resulted in an unexpected but marked improvement in scrolling. This prompted a more thorough cleaning by opening up the mouse and washing the scroll wheel with soap1. The scroll is smooth now, and works as expected.
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A dirty scroll wheel affecting scrolling is apparently a common enough issue and iFixit has instructions on opening up this particular mouse for cleaning. Cleaning with a soap is not encouraged though and internet seems to recommend using isopropyl alcohol instead. ↩