can anybody think of a way to prevent users from physically remozing a mouse. I work in a high school and the problem evolved from students taking the mouse balls, then to stealing the mouse ball retainers and now they just take the entire mouse. Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Most people won't steal something if you make it too time consuming to get it loose. My reccommendation is to set the mouse up with enough slack in the cord that it can be placed on either side of the keyboard, then zip tie the mouse cord tightly to the legs of the desk or some other heavy structure, spacing several zip ties widely enough apart that they would have to be cut seperately.
Or you could play real nazi about it... and lock up all the mice and make the student's sign them out if they want to use the computer.
Or make them learn the keyboard shortcuts like everybody else
i have to say that those mouselok's look good, but again be careful about the vendor. $3.75 isn't bad considering the cost of continually replacing mice.
I used to work in a college lab and we locked everything down by using a pad lock and piece that you would physically drill into the desk. We then pass all other accesories through their and all was well. Warning it is a pain to manage especially when having to replace hardware; however a small price to pay to prevent theft....
I know it may sound weird, and this certainly could pose an issue if/when trying to clean the mouse ball/rollers..
A small dab of plastic cement or "Crazy Glue" just on the tab of the retainer would keep the retainer and ball in place (of course make sure not to use too much that it gets on the ball).
Otherwise Optical Mice would be the better bet. The price has come down quite a bit on them if you had to replace a large amount (check with surplus websites for great deals on OEM or "white box" mice).
As far as for the entire mouse itself, I would agree w/ the cable staples to tether the mouse cord (ensuring enough slack for the mouse user) to the desk. Either that, or the zip tie effect would work as well. If you couldn't zip tie the cord to the desk, try zipping the mouse cord to other cables (keyboard, monitor, etc).
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Mice