Last weekend I popped into my local computer superstore to buy a new mouse and - as often happens - came out carrying more goodies than I could comfortably carry.

My old mouse had been on its last legs for a few months and was beginning to affect my computer’s performance. Every now and then the mouse cursor would freeze on the screen and simple operations - like opening a new program - would take longer than usual.

At first I thought it might be a problem with the computer itself. I quickly ruled out spyware and the like and was beginning to think that my PC was beginning to feel its age. But all the problems seemed to be mouse-related and as it is such a cheap and easy component to replace I thought I would get a new one.

Before I reached the mouse aisle however I was distracted by a display of laptop coolers. I use my laptop quite a lot, particularly when on the move, and have always been concerned by how hot it can become. I didn’t even know laptop coolers existed until I saw them piled up on an end of aisle display and decided to buy one.

And it works a dream. It derives its power from the laptop itself via a USB plug and keeps my laptop cool no matter how many hours it is on for. It’s also so quiet you have to lift up the laptop to feel for the gentle cooling effect to know that it is on. Amazon have a nice range of them from just £12.99 - if you have a laptop it’s a very small price to pay to prevent overheating causing serious damage to it.

The other thing that I picked up was a LaCie Mobile Drive. Up until now I have been backing up files onto DVDs, but it is far from perfect and I suffer from the inevitable “tomorrow syndrome” when it comes to backing up files. What I’ve wanted for sometime is an external hard drive that would allow me to back up everything from my PC’s hard drive and was also small enough to carry about with me. Something that I could simply plug into any computer (my laptop for example) and have the contents of my own PC at my beck and call.

The LaCie Mobile Drive fitted the bill perfectly. Super slim and light so very portable and with enough storage capacity (120GB) for me to backup my entire hard drive. I can start it at night and have a complete back up by the following morning.

As for the new mouse, my PC’s performance is back to its old self. No more freezing cursors. No more slow loading of programs.

Happy days.