Three mice and none works properly

I was using a Kensington mouse with a PS/2 connector with a USB adapter. This worked fine until yesterday when it would not move downscreen. It would move up and sideways, but had great reluctance moving downward. Thinking it might be dirty inside, I removed the ball and looked. It was amazingly clean and no dust balls I could see. However, I swapped it for a Microsoft mouse with a PS/2 connector. This one didn't work at all - no movement and inactive buttons. So I swapped that one for another Microsoft mouse. This one moves all over screen and the buttons work, but now it won't let me highlight any text, either on the Internet or in Word, to copy and paste unless I also hold down a key on the keyboard. And it will often double click even when I only click the button once. Not desirable when playing some games. What could be wrong with these mice and is there anything a non-savvy computer user can do to fix it? P.S. - I have an HP Pavilion 750n desktop (old) running Windows XP as the OS. I also have Computer Associates security suite installed. I've run a virus scan with it and nothing discovered. Also nothing with CCleaner, Malwarebytes or SpyBot.

 

Hi,

The ball is nearly always clean. It's the three little wheels inside the ball housing that need cleaning. Do yourself a favor and go find a ball less mouse (Optical mouse). Nothing to get dirty except the pads it slides on.

Good Luck, Jim