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For a while now I've been having this annoying problem with my desktop where the mouse stops responding for a bit. It's a plain, Dell mouse with a cord connecting to a USB port. This problem seems to arise more frequently when the CPU's running harder than normal - when I'm playing Skyrim, say. Windows makes a sound like something's been disconnected from a USB port and suddenly the mouse doesn't work anymore. A minute or so later it makes another sound like something's been connected again, and then the mouse might start working, but sometimes nothing happens anyway. Whilst playing Skyrim (or any other time the CPU's working hard) the mouse stops working every two seconds, which is really very annoying. If I'm just typing or browsing Youtube or whatever, it'll maybe go for ten minutes before crashing.

I'm pretty sure it's not a virus. I've had the same problem with a previous USB mouse I was using. I thought it was something wrong with the USB port, but plugging it into a different port didn't resolve the issue. Any ideas?

Could be a loose cord, and when you move the cord just right, it connects/disconnects. Beyond that an old driver maybe? Other than that no clue.

The driver's up to date, according to Windows. The cord looks fine, and the other mouse with a different cord also had the same problem. Its' cord looks fine, also.

Try cleaning the surface of both mice and make sure they are on a mouse pad. If they are wireless (which they arent, but still FFR (for future reference)) replace the batteries.

Try plugging something else into the USB port (an old flash drive, a webcam, something) and see if the problems persist. It could be the port's gone bad.

The port seems to work fine with a plain USB drive. I plugged the mouse into a port way in the back of the computer that I don't use as much, and the problem hasn't gone away, but it's definitely happening a lot less often.

What would make a port go bad? I remember a few times I'd plug a USB drive into that port in the front and suddenly the entire computer would shut off. Could it be short circuiting, or something?

Age, wear and tear, constant use, etc. it's just one of those unavoidable things sometimes. If the problem is still happening in another port, it could be the mouse's male-end USB plug that's worn.

USB ports wear out often under use. My dad's computer at work constantly needs new USB ports because he has to plug his GPS equipment in after coming in from the field every day. As did one of my ports on my last laptop, which was only a year old roughly.