Have to connect my wireless mouse each time

Question

Hi,
I happen to be one of those people who shuts down my iMac at the end of each day of work. When I arrive the next morning and turn it on, it always says it cannot find a mouse to connect to.
(I'm using Snow Leopard and a mouse that's probably more than a year. Also use a wireless keyboard which always connects automatically.)
Even though my mouse is switched on, I always have to shut it off and turn it back on. Then my iMac finds it and connects to it.
I have tried clicking the mouse to make the green light come on (I'm guessing that's what "make it discoverable" means--activate it in some way??)
So is there any way to remedy this? It's getting really tiresome. Thinking of going back to the wired mouse.
(I actually had this same problem when I first starting using the wireless mouse and stopped using it because I didn't want the hassle.)
Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

No. I, myself, made the mistake of assuming Discoverable meant the mouse, or whatever Bluetooth device you have paired, is discoverable and, therefore, needed so the computer can find it. That's not what it means. It means the computer is discoverable by other devices. And, other devices would include someone else nearby attempting to hack in by way of Bluetooth. I suppose if you live on a farm in Utah with the nearest neighbor fifty miles away, it's a moot point.
I just realized what discoverable means because someone's SMART Phone in a nearby apartment yesterday was attempting to pair with my computer, I think quite by accident. I got a message to that effect and denied. It may also have meant that they left their phone, unwittingly, on Discoverable. In any case, Discoverable should be disabled
On further research, I found that it's also advisable in Bluetooth Prefernces> Advanced to leave "Blutooth-PDA-Sync Modem" in "Serial ports that devices use to connect to this computer" unchecked (the default is checked, so uncheck it) and "Share my Internet connection with other Bluetooth devices" unchecked, as well.
"Open BT Setup Assistant at startup".... "Allow BT device to wake" and "Prompt for all incoming audio requests" should all be checked.
If your mouse is paired and made a Favorite, you should not drop the connection. Mine is now set up as above and I'm not having any issues staying connected.
Perhaps leaving "Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant...."  checked, the default, presents a security risk. For the time being, I'm leaving it checked.
See (scroll up a bit to page 17 to see the beginning)
http://books.google.com/books?id=x3jWs7735WgC&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=uncheck+Blueto oth-PDA-Sync+modem+osx&source=bl&ots=JRvkm-rB17&sig=ITTmnKr3sKUWsR0Ge0RLW2kTw2Y& hl=en&ei=Z2dxTv_aH8Pb0QG-042OCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB4Q 6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q&f=false
On a related note, in SysPrefs>Sharing, uncheck everything, if not needed.