Okay, thousands of people may think of it as just a humble office paper clip that they employ to hold pieces of paper together but it is also has another important use – that of a computer maintenance accessory.

Never thought of it before as an essential tool to keeping your computer running smoothly? Then you should…

• What do you do when the curser on your computer screen suddenly starts jumping around all over the place?

• What do you do when your CD or DVD drive draw unexpectedly jams and won’t open?

• What do you use to clean out that gunk between the keys on your keyboard?

The answer is easy - you use a paper clip!

There you are working away when the computer curser starts jumping about all over the place; it’s time to clean out the mouse.

Remove the circular plate on the underside of the mouse and take out the ball and using a paper click scrape the fluff off the three small wheels inside the ball cavity. Problem solved.

A paper clip is the perfect tool for opening up stuck CD or DVD drives. Look at the front of your drive tray and beneath it should be a very small hole, unfurl a paper clip and insert it into the hole. Press the button located inside the hole and voila… the drive tray should slide neatly out.

I've even managed to find an video so you can see the technique in action! You can watch it below.

No matter how careful you are in keeping food and drink away from your keyboard, eventually it will clog up between the keys with muck and grime. Run a paper clip down the cracks between the keys to remove the offending muck and dirt.

Sometimes, especially if your keyboard is really filthy you may need to remove the keys to clean it properly. Again you can do this with a paper clip, straighten it out and make a small hook at the end which you can use to lever out the keys.

And one of the really good things about paper clips is that they are found in offices, schools and homes throughout the world. So wherever you are when one of these problems happen your trusty computer maintenance tool shouldn’t be too far away.