I am running Windows Me (4.90, build 3000) on a Dell Latitude LM notebook, with a PS/2 mouse, which works fine for everything except a game demo I downloaded of "Populous: The Beginning" release version V1.0 (Sep 26, 1998). I am trying to use it in Software Rendered mode because I can't use DirectX (I get the message "A 3D device with the required capabilities could not be found".) Anyway, in Software Rendered mode the game works fine except the mouse does not work at all. When I return to the Windows desktop and do anything else, the mouse is fine. Is there something else I may need to install or add, such as the old mouse.exe or mouse.com programs?

I found my own solution using Microsoft's Knowledge Base Search. Go to:- http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q290342 Basically, you remove your PS/2 mouse device (via Control Panel, System) then reboot. WinMe will reinstall the mouse again during boot up. One interesting hitch though is that now when I double-click on the Populous desktop shortcut, I must not leave the mouse cursor in lower right corner of the desktop while the program starts up or I end up with two mouse cursors in game (one ghosting the other). If I leave the cursor hovering around the middle of the desktop while the game starts up, it all works fine (with only the one mouse cursor showing).