Mouse cursor jumps across the screen

Hello,
recently my mouse cursor has started jumping from one side of the screen to the other without any reason. if i move the cursor normally it all of a sudden may move 5" when it should move only 1" you probably get the point. most of the time the mouse works normally but these irritating "jumps" happen every now and then (too often)

i've tried several different mice, also brand new and different ports usb, ps/2
and the same problem occurs, so it's not the mouse causing this.

what could be the problem??

 

I would recommend opening control panel, and experimenting with the settings under 'Mouse'.
If you are running WinXP, you could also try inserting the installation disc, opening a command prompt, and typing sfc /scannow, which has helped me with similar problems in the past.

 

this happens to me when my system is having stability trouble or is being tied up with another task. I've never thought much of it cause the rare times it happens I simply restart the computer anyways. Next time it happens to me I'll take some mental notes, and get back to you on how my thoughts about it.