Most-hated gadgets are driving us to distraction

But gadgets, it would appear, have also delivered a hi-tech hell.

From sat-navs to security lights, mobile phones to printers, they bemuse, befuddle and annoy, driving the most passive of users into a rage.

Researchers examined what they referred to as "the dark side of technology" and found people eager to identify their most hated devices.

High up the list comes the ball mouse, an invention which can seem more efficient at gathering fluff and grime than navigating a computer screen.

With the advent of the laser version, of course, it has now begun its journey into history.

The security light, cheaply available and easy to fit, has become a must-have in an age of soaring crime.

But its promise to discreetly illuminate your path as you arrive home, while scaring off anyone with more sinister motives, is not all it offers.

It also has the power to keep you awake all night as it activates with the slightest hint of a breeze - not to mention bumping up the electricity bill as a result.

Some of the most insidious technological advances have infiltrated our lives without choice via our telephone lines.

Automated telemarketing calls drive us to distraction, as do automated phone options, which have taken over the role of the human switchboard.

The speed camera, which most people can see the positive side of outside schools and near danger junctions, becomes public enemy number one if it snaps you marginally over the limit on an open stretch of road.

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And from another technological age, the alarm clock still rates highly on many hate lists. Most said they would welcome an invention that gradually wakes us from our sleep, rather than the nerve-shattering sound of bells, and beepers or, perhaps worst of all, the chirpy voice of the early morning DJ.

Even the digital music revolution, which enables us to buy and listen to music at the click of a mouse, has its downside, with users complaining about Digital Rights Management, the umbrella term for the technology which limits the copying of online purchases.

A spokesman for the MSN Tech and Gadgets website, which compiled the survey, said: "We all love technology - it quells our boredom, makes life easier and inspires us to greatness.

"But technology has a dark side which makes use believe inanimate objects are planning our downfall.

"Anyone who has experienced endless paper jams in the office printer or whose alarm clock has shattered their best ever dream or been shocked by a car alarm reacting a stiff breeze knows this.

"No doubt about it, technology can be irritating, infuriating and downright annoying."