Uncontrollable+Cursor+Behavior+with+Weather+Station+connected+to+the+PC

Problem
I get Uncontrollable Cursor Behavior with Windows XP and my Weather Station connected to the PC through the serial port.

Solution
At some point if you are using Windows XP, your computer has multiple serial (COM) ports and one or more of those serial ports is connected to a Weather Station which is outputting serial data, you may experience a problem with the cursor on your PC screen.. The cursor will ricochet around the display uncontrollably until the weather station is unplugged. The problem is an XP glitch that recognizes the weather station input as a Ballpoint or Serial Mouse, usually on startup of the PC. Usually, the problem appears when the weather station is outputting data, and the datalogging program that uses that data is not open (such as when the computer boots up). If the datalogging program is open and receiving data from the COM port, things will normally be fine and no problems occur. There are a couple fixes, one only is good until you start the computer again, and the other should be good indefinitely. Both involve using the Windows Device Manager and are reasonably simple to do. In the temporary fix, you simply uninstall the offending mouse and everything will work until you start up again and Windows will dutifully reinstall it. The permanent fix is to tell Windows not to use it again. For either fix, you will have to wait until it occurs and the cursor goes nuts, unplug the weather station to get control of the cursor - Then:


 * 1) Right click on the “My Computer” icon on your desktop and choose “Properties” (If you have been clever enough to do away with Microsoft’s “My Computer” you can find the System Properties by going: Start/Settings/Control Panel and choosing the “System” icon) Or . . . easier yet; while holding the 'Windows' key down, tap the 'Pause/Break' key.
 * 2) On the System Properties page that opens, select the “Hardware” Tab and click the “Device Manager” button
 * 3) Once the “Device Manager” dialog is displayed, open the “Mice and other pointing devices”. It should show several different mice or pointing devices and you are looking for the one that you don’t have - probably a Ballpoint mouse and maybe a Serial mouse - right click the offender and choose “Properties”
 * 4) At the bottom of the properties box that appears, will be a “Device usage” drop down list - select the “Do not use this device (disable)” choice. The mouse that you have disabled will now appear on the Device Manager list with a red X across it and you should have no more problems.

Discussion
Please find more help on this from Microsoft:

@http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/2/6/b2624690-0fdc-4842-b850-8d21ca893962/COMDisable.msi