I recently came across two “new” Windows programs when exploring ideas for adding extra control to a roller mouse. The search had started while we’d be looking to adapt an employee’s workplace. In her case, she had a simple request to continue to use her roller mouse – liking the feel and its movement – but she found the “lift” from the roller to click more of a challenge to carry out – particularly over long periods of use.
The first challenge was a quick one to resolve as there’s a number of well-established supports available to automate the mouse click. Programs such as Point N Click Virtual Mouse and Dwell Clicker 2 are well known and a little more polished. However, in the end, we settled on a program with a small presence on the screen called MetaClick.
The good: It’s free, easy to set up and control the “look”, straight forward layout.
Areas for improvement: Appearance looks dated, lacks the ability to move on-screen buttons to preferred areas.
The second challenge, in this case, related to the “orientation” of the roller mouse. The User found her control to be improved over longer periods when her mouse roller was rotated by 1800 on her countertop. This one was a little trickier to resolve but in the end, an old “prank” program called Sakasa Mouse – software which reverses the direction of the cursor movement – came to the rescue for her.
The good: It’s free, separate settings can be set for the X and the Y mouse planes, simple configuration.
Areas for improvement: No support, hasn’t been updated for several years, “jumpy” mouse movement evident on occasions.