On 2/21/2023 3:11 AM, Fokke Nauta wrote:
> On 21/02/2023 01:45, Paul wrote:
>> On 2/20/2023 12:54 PM, Fokke Nauta wrote:
>>> On 20/02/2023 13:02, Graham J wrote:
>>
>>>> An ordinary mouse can be as litle as £5 from your local supermarket. Well worth getting one.
>>>
>>> Well, he has one.
>>
>> Mouse switches wear out. And when you do a drag with a
>> worn left-mouse, you can end up dropping the item part
>> way along your attempted travels.
>>
>> What happens, is the plastic post that presses on the
>> switch plunger, wears, and no longer properly depresses
>> the plunger. Making the switch "noisy".
>>
>> I have a mouse here, that drops folders all over the place
>> and it has been retired.
>>
>> As for the search problem, there are several ways to search,
>> and you should set up a thorough search for Pieter (so he
>> can find the lost stuff the next time).
>>
>>     Windows Federated Search   (Control Panels : Indexing Options)
>>     Agent Ransack              Mythic Software (free version), methodical search
>>     Everything.exe             Voidtools (free), scans and keeps lists
>>     nfi.exe                    Not a search tool, does not list WinSxS materials properly.
>>
>>    Paul
>
> Thanks, Paul.
>
> Perhaps a new mouse?
>
> Fokke

Maybe. It would be up to Pieter to rate the current mouse
for wear characteristics. You would normally see that you
had dropped a folder while in the process of dragging it.
It is only the odd time, that when the folder slips,
it is dropped into an unknown area.

My mouse the other day, I thought software was messing
with my scroll wheel. Got the screwdriver and opened it
up, and it just needed a cleaning. The scroll wheel was
filthy.

Where they hide the screws, varies with generation. At
one time, screws were hidden under rubber feet. Now, the
screws could be under some "stickers", and the stickers
have some cut-lines indicating a screw is underneath. You
might need a jewelers Philips (cross) screwdriver to get
the screw out. The screw is in plastic, so you have to be
careful to not over-tighten when finished the cleaning.

Do not pull at the poly sliders or rubber feet, unless
you are absolutely certain a screw is under there. You cannot
remove any sliders too many times, as the adhesive on them
will fail.

Some mice have a lot of parts inside, such as tiny
springs. The first time I took the mouse apart, some
of the springs fell out, and I couldn't figure out
their orientation. I put the parts away for a
rainy day, and a second attempt to reassemble worked.

My newest mouse has been apart for a cleaning (a Microsoft
brand mouse), and the scroll wheel bearing is very impractical
to clean. If you get a gummy substance in there, you cannot
disassemble the bearing for cleaning.

But that's the joy of owning these mice. In the old days,
the rubber-ball mice needed to be cleaned practically
every day. These newer optical mice need a cleaning
every five years (button area inside and scroll wheel).
And five years passes in no time. When you have the mouse
apart, you can check for wear on the post that pushes
the mouse button microswitch plunger. Since the amount
of wear is tiny, you compare left-mouse to right-mouse,
as they have different amounts of wear and that helps
you detect the wear. This one seems to use a "pad" to push
on the plunger, and you can see the "pad" has a depression
in it from usage.

https://oscarliang.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/fix-mouse-double-clicking-replace-switch-open-case.jpg

The array-light-detector IC is always made from a weird plastic,
and it looks like the company making them does not know how
to mold plastic, but do not let that bother you, as the
chip seems to be quite reliable. Movement of the mouse
is detected by comparing pixel values as the image
impressed on them moves over the sensor. Normally, the
light array sensor does not need to be cleaned.

The owner of that mouse is lucky, in that it is a five button mouse,
and you can unsolder one of the two spare switches and keep
the three button portion working (that's if a mouse plunger
is not working right). The other two buttons may never have
received a "binding" by the OS and that's why they are "spare".

Paul

On 21/02/2023 17:06, Paul wrote:
> On 2/21/2023 3:11 AM, Fokke Nauta wrote:
>> On 21/02/2023 01:45, Paul wrote:
>>> On 2/20/2023 12:54 PM, Fokke Nauta wrote:
>>>> On 20/02/2023 13:02, Graham J wrote:
>>>
>>>>> An ordinary mouse can be as litle as £5 from your local
>>>>> supermarket. Well worth getting one.
>>>>
>>>> Well, he has one.
>>>
>>> Mouse switches wear out. And when you do a drag with a
>>> worn left-mouse, you can end up dropping the item part
>>> way along your attempted travels.
>>>
>>> What happens, is the plastic post that presses on the
>>> switch plunger, wears, and no longer properly depresses
>>> the plunger. Making the switch "noisy".
>>>
>>> I have a mouse here, that drops folders all over the place
>>> and it has been retired.
>>>
>>> As for the search problem, there are several ways to search,
>>> and you should set up a thorough search for Pieter (so he
>>> can find the lost stuff the next time).
>>>
>>>     Windows Federated Search   (Control Panels : Indexing Options)
>>>     Agent Ransack              Mythic Software (free version),
>>> methodical search
>>>     Everything.exe             Voidtools (free), scans and keeps lists
>>>     nfi.exe                    Not a search tool, does not list
>>> WinSxS materials properly.
>>>
>>>    Paul
>>
>> Thanks, Paul.
>>
>> Perhaps a new mouse?
>>
>> Fokke
>
> Maybe. It would be up to Pieter to rate the current mouse
> for wear characteristics. You would normally see that you
> had dropped a folder while in the process of dragging it.
> It is only the odd time, that when the folder slips,
> it is dropped into an unknown area.
>
> My mouse the other day, I thought software was messing
> with my scroll wheel. Got the screwdriver and opened it
> up, and it just needed a cleaning. The scroll wheel was
> filthy.
>
> Where they hide the screws, varies with generation. At
> one time, screws were hidden under rubber feet. Now, the
> screws could be under some "stickers", and the stickers
> have some cut-lines indicating a screw is underneath. You
> might need a jewelers Philips (cross) screwdriver to get
> the screw out. The screw is in plastic, so you have to be
> careful to not over-tighten when finished the cleaning.
>
> Do not pull at the poly sliders or rubber feet, unless
> you are absolutely certain a screw is under there. You cannot
> remove any sliders too many times, as the adhesive on them
> will fail.
>
> Some mice have a lot of parts inside, such as tiny
> springs. The first time I took the mouse apart, some
> of the springs fell out, and I couldn't figure out
> their orientation. I put the parts away for a
> rainy day, and a second attempt to reassemble worked.
>
> My newest mouse has been apart for a cleaning (a Microsoft
> brand mouse), and the scroll wheel bearing is very impractical
> to clean. If you get a gummy substance in there, you cannot
> disassemble the bearing for cleaning.
>
> But that's the joy of owning these mice. In the old days,
> the rubber-ball mice needed to be cleaned practically
> every day. These newer optical mice need a cleaning
> every five years (button area inside and scroll wheel).
> And five years passes in no time. When you have the mouse
> apart, you can check for wear on the post that pushes
> the mouse button microswitch plunger. Since the amount
> of wear is tiny, you compare left-mouse to right-mouse,
> as they have different amounts of wear and that helps
> you detect the wear. This one seems to use a "pad" to push
> on the plunger, and you can see the "pad" has a depression
> in it from usage.
>
> https://oscarliang.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/fix-mouse-double-clicking-replace-switch-open-case.jpg
>
> The array-light-detector IC is always made from a weird plastic,
> and it looks like the company making them does not know how
> to mold plastic, but do not let that bother you, as the
> chip seems to be quite reliable. Movement of the mouse
> is detected by comparing pixel values as the image
> impressed on them moves over the sensor. Normally, the
> light array sensor does not need to be cleaned.
>
> The owner of that mouse is lucky, in that it is a five button mouse,
> and you can unsolder one of the two spare switches and keep
> the three button portion working (that's if a mouse plunger
> is not working right). The other two buttons may never have
> received a "binding" by the OS and that's why they are "spare".
>
>    Paul
>

Thanks, Paul.

I'll have a look into the mouse. I'm curious.

Fokke

[Late response due to extended absence:]

Fokke Nauta <usenet@solfon.nl> wrote:
> On 19/02/2023 14:22, Fokke Nauta wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > A very strange problem here. An old friend of mine (80+) is using
> > Windows 10 home on his laptop. In the Document folder he created a new
> > folder called PIETER with many documents in it. Lately he opened that
> > folder again, to create a new folder in it. I guess by the cause of his
> > shaking hands, something went wrong and the folder PIETER has
> > disappeared. Instead of that there was a shorcut named PIETER but it
> > can't be opened. Neither by double clicking, nor by Open or Properties -
> > Open file location. Simply no response.
> > Is there any chance we can open it or find the folder called PIETER? By
> > searching in the file explorer there was no result.
> >
> > Many thanks in advance.
> >
> > Fokke Nauta
>
> Hi all,
>
> The problem has been solved. My friend could remember a file name of a
> document which was in the folder PIETER. He searched for it and found
> the document. It was still in the folder PIETER, which was now found in
> a sub folder under the folder Pictures. Haven't got a clue as to how he
> managed to do so. But now I'm sure that an old man with shaky hands and
> Windows don't fit.
>
> Thank you all for your help and responses. I learned someting new again.

Two points adding to the many comments already made:

- If possible, let him not use drag(-and-drop) at all, but other
methods, such as move and copy with menu choices.

- To safeguard against accidental drag operations, i.e. he didn't intend
to drag, but did it accidentily because of his shaky hands, it's best
to increase the amount of movement needed before a drag is triggered.

See the below article on how to do this:

'Change Drag & Drop Sensitivity to Avoid Accidental Move of Files'
<https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/change-drag-drop-sensitivity-avoid-accidental-move-files/>

Note that the DragHeight and DragWidth are in pixels, so dependent on
the resolution of the display. Setting them to a very high number,
effectively disables drag alltogether.

And finally:

If he accidentily does a drag-and-drop, but *realizes* it, he can
(immediately) type ctrl-Z, and probably undo the move.

Hope this helps.