This has happened to me many times over the years.  It has come back the past few days. I'm trying to create a scene in Poser.  When I try, for example, to put a dress on my figure, I barely touch the dials, and the dress (or whatever I'm trying to manipulate) darts off in different directions, often disappearing.   So, it is extremely hard to match the figure with the clothing.  I have to move the dial painfully slow, and that sometimes doesn't help.  My mouse is not battery operated, but is connected by wire.   is there anything I can do to correct this?  Thanks!

Under the figure menu apply conform to

Yup, what Jim said.  You don't position clothes on figures, you conform 'em.  Unless, of course, they're dynamic and that's a whole nother thing. 

Just a question.

You did not change anything in General preferences did you??
In the interface tab??
Tablet mode?

Does what it says for a tablet.. :-)

 I notice that it when I bring up another previously saved scene, everything works fine.  I didn't change anything, but I'll check preferences. Thanks y'all. 

I expereinced something similar using just a prop: It was due to scaling. Is your figure/prop  scaled appropriate. Mine was so largely scaled it was beyond the Poser universe at the time

In the particular scene I'm working in, I use a big bar prop. I think by adding characters, I'm pushing, like you say, the "poser universe.". What I often have to do is take a scene and save it as a background, making it easier for Poser to perform. Lots of times, Poser will "get tired," and " not listen." Like I'll try to make a character's shoulder move forward, but can't get it away from another character, or lighting.