The ball on your mouse has never gotten "gummed up" with lint?. Oh, you must have an optical mouse. On mine (I have two mice - two PC's), the lint, dust, dirt, whatever, builds up on the little wheels. I have to remove the balls and scrape the lint off of wheels with a small standard screw driver. Of course, ya gotta be careful not to let any lint get into the "guts" of the mice. Also, I clean the little rubber balls with a cloth and isopropyl alcohol before replacing them.

Am I the only one who scrapes dirt off the little wheels and washes their balls? Nobody else's pad gets dusty?