# Do you reguarly/constantly use your mouse scroll wheel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030 "2009-06-07T19:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/21 "2009-06-08T05:15:39Z")
I used to use it a whole bunch, but my use has tapered off after I 1) installed the Scrollbar Anywhere for Firefox and 2) bought a mouse with a shitty wheel. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/22 "2009-06-08T05:45:13Z")
Well I just used the wheel to get here so I’m another that would buy a new mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/23 "2009-06-08T06:28:50Z")
Yes I am a big scroller especially in Firefox. In addition to its regular use, I use the scroll-wheel button to open a link in a new tab. And I use the “scroll anywhere” addon which lets me lock into scroll mode by clicking and briefly holding the scroll button. Extremely convenient for navigating large pages and I miss this feature immediately when I have to use IE. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/24 "2009-06-08T06:54:47Z")
Yes. Not only do I use it I have 2 spare mice in case I need to breed them. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/25 "2009-06-08T06:56:40Z")
> [@](#): > > So my question is, do you use your mouse wheel scroll that often or–if it stopped working–could you still carry on using the same mouse (as long as everything else worked)? My monitor has a depressingly low refresh rate, so I tend to use the Page Up/Down buttons for my scrolling purposes. I would _like_ to have the more precise scrolling of the wheel, but alas, t’was not to be. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/26 "2009-06-08T07:22:42Z")
I’d definitely buy a new one. Though I’d hate to since it’d run me about $100 bucks for another mouse this good. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/27 "2009-06-08T11:39:23Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > What I mean is, do you use it enough to where if it broke, you’d need to get a new mouse even though the buttons still worked and the arrow still tracked? Yes. I’d hate to try and browse the Dope without a scrollwheel. So many people’s posts to skip… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/28 "2009-06-08T12:08:18Z")
No scroll wheel? New mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/29 "2009-06-08T12:41:39Z")
Tennis elbow cured my scrollaholicism. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/30 "2009-06-08T13:10:47Z")
I could make do for a while, I think. I use it quite a lot, but I use the keyboard PageUp/PageDn/Home/End keys just as often. I definitely would replace it eventually, once the annoyance factor reaches the laziness threshold. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/31 "2009-06-08T13:17:36Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > A decent mouse won’t cost more than a couple of bucks. I bought [my cheap ass logitech mouse](http://www.directron.com/msbf96.html) after trying a whole bunch of mice at the local computer shop to find one with a decent feel. Seriously, try them out - some mice have scroll wheels that have heavy “clicks” when you turn them, and if I use those for a couple of hours my finger starts to really hurt. As I discovered from repairing my cheapass, ancient (1997 IIRC) Logitech mouse, the “click” comes from a bit of plastic around the wheel axle, that acts as a kind of flexible latch thingy. It fell off as I was scrubbing the wheel itself and I couldn’t find it again, let alone re-install it. Now my scrollwheel is just clicklessly freewheeling, works perfectly fine, and is much more comfortable and precise that way. Hurray for DIY and messing about with screwdrivers 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/32 "2009-06-08T13:40:05Z")
It’d drive me berserk to not have the wheel. Mine started slipping, so I cut grooves into it to make it easier to grip. Then it lost nearly all its cohesion, so I opened the mouse and superglued the external wheel to the internal one. Haven’t had a problem since. My computer at work has a center lever, which is vaguely annoying because you can’t scroll all that fast with it. I find it tolerable for most purposes, however. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/33 "2009-06-08T14:12:51Z")
I use it all the time even in my Kensington Pro Mouse whose ring is around the cueball, which is clunky, but still less clunky than hoping your aim is good in scrolling down and up documents with either Pro- or regular mice. In fact, every time I see this thread title in the forum listing it has been displayed after using the scroll wheel to reveal it. Last time I was at my Dad’s I was using his computer and he said “what’s that you’re doing?” I’m like “What?” took awhile before I realized what he was talking about as I was navigating thru a web page because I do it without realizing it now. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/34 "2009-06-08T15:20:20Z")
I use mine so much, I’ve been through several mice trying to find the best one. I finally settled on the Logitech MX wireless. Not perfect, but the best so far. Oh, and the two-fingered scroll on the MacBook? **Best. Invention. Evar.** ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/35 "2009-06-08T16:13:40Z")
I use the wheel for almost all scrolling. We have a few applications that don’t support it but I always try anyway before reverting to clicking on the scrollbar. I’ve noticed that my four-year-old son, with no prompting, picked up on it and uses the wheel to scroll. I’m guessing that he doesn’t even know that he could click on the scrollbar to do the same thing. He would probably put the mouse through the monitor if he was presented with a wheel-less mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/36 "2009-06-08T16:21:53Z")
I didn’t think so until the one on my home mouse broke. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030/37 "2009-06-08T16:37:30Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > As I discovered from repairing my cheapass, ancient (1997 IIRC) Logitech mouse, the “click” comes from a bit of plastic around the wheel axle, that acts as a kind of flexible latch thingy. It fell off as I was scrubbing the wheel itself and I couldn’t find it again, let alone re-install it. > Now my scrollwheel is just clicklessly freewheeling, works perfectly fine, and is much more comfortable and precise that way. Hurray for DIY and messing about with screwdrivers 🙂 I thought this was what happened to my new cordless Logitech mouse, but it turns tout the “click” on this mouse can be disabled (and re-enabled) by pushing down on the wheel. I prefer it with the click though. As for how much I use it - I use it heavily if I have it, but it doesn’t bother me at all if I’m on a computer that doesn’t have it. My office desktop has a trackball with no scroll wheel and I never miss it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reguarly-constantly-use-your-mouse-scroll-wheel/499030.md?page=1)