This thread prompted by me getting fed up with the mouse I originally got with my computer getting clogged up with fluff and stuff. So the other day I went out and got an Intellimouse Optical so I’d never have to clean my mouse again. A side effect of this is that I now have more mouse buttons than I know what to do with. And a wheel, which I have determined to be an occaisionally mildly convenient but basically useless device.
So anyways, to reiterate the thread title; what do you do with your extra mouse buttons? Me:
Left and right buttons are normal, left side button is set to double-click (saves me milliseconds every time I open a program or file!), right side button is set to shift (I no longer have to reach the keyboard to do that shift + close thing on windows), wheel button is left as autoscroll (a feature that is marginally more useless than the wheel itself)
In short, I’m doing bugger all with my new mouse except admiring the red glow it produces and being happy that I don’t have to pick gunk out of its innards every so often to keep it working. Oh yah, and being happy that I got it for $20 (AUS) cheaper than I should’ve 'cause someone at the store missed one of the mice when they were updating the price stickers.
Wel, my left button is my left button, my right button is my right button, and the only one I have left, the central (wheel) button I use as “double click”. The only other button is my belly button but I have not found a use for that yet
I got me an Intellimouse, too. Fun little critters, aren’t they? My buttons are all actually the default settings: Left, right, and wheel do the usual things, while the two side buttons do Alt+Left Arrow and Alt+Right Arrow. Saves quite a lot of time flipping between web pages, and it’s applicable to some of my other programs as well. The only downside is that those buttons are too darn easy to accidentally click. Painful, especially after you’ve just hit a Submit button on a page.
Microsoft Trackball Optical here. Thumbwheel type. Microsoft makes some really good hardware, I’ll give them that. Anyhow, left and right are set to left and right, middle to autoscroll. Far left is set to F5/Refresh, and far right is set to Minimize All. Good way to sweep the desktop clean if someone walks through.
Course, the Linux box just has the right left and middle buttons… I can’t get the wheel to work on it, for some reason. Should figure it out, havn’t bothered yet.
I have an optical Logitech MouseMan. I found it to be better constructed than the Microsoft version. Plus, mine has a cool blue light on it
I click the wheel to minimize windows, and I’ve assigned the thumb button to “backspace.” Backspace is the back button in IE, Netscape, and Mozilla. It makes navigating so much faster.
Well okay, I’m using it more than I made out. But it’s only useful for scrolling reletively small thingies. For big pages it’s much quicker just to grab the scrollbar in the program.
The oen has a little rocking switch, so pressing the nib down is a left-click, the lower switch is right-click, the the upper switch is double-click. Very fast, and cool.
It does come with an optical mouse that for some reason is a stupid shape that doesn’t fit on the tablet properly.
Also, I exude a kind of gunk from my fingers when in contact with certain kinds of plastics, which tend to jam up a mousewheel… yicky.
I have a Logitech MouseMan+ which does about everything I could hope for from a mouse. Left and Right are default, Thumb button minimizes the window and pressing the scroll wheel makes a clicking sound.
Hmmmm… I’m sure I set the scroll wheel button to do something, but whatever it is, it’s not obvious. Probably set to “delete random .dll file”
Count me as another person addicted to the scroll wheel (in it’s scrolling function, not the ‘what the hell does this do?’ clicking function). My computer at work lacks one and I have seriously considered buying myself a new mouse for work. Minimalism, bah! Working without my scroll whell is like working with my fingers cut off! If minimalism was worth anything, my car dashboard would be a smooth clean panel with a single red button that made it go forward
GuanoLad, it’s not you. Microsoft’s wheelmice had this problem. I had it and everyone I know had it. For some reason the rubber sweelled and would rub and not rotate freely. In my case I just cut away some of the surrounding plastic. It was a chore but it worked.
Another problem is that when they are new a certain gunk accumulates on the little shafts that rotate and makes the movement jerky and you have to clean them.
The quality is really crappy and I don’t use the wheel anyway. The mouse came bundled with the computer but I would have gladly got a cheaper mouse and save some money.
Logitech marble mouse here. It’s an optical mouse with a very shiney red ball with little tiny black dots on it. Left and right buttons act like left and right buttons but if I push both I get the “webwheel” A small icon comes up with favorite, back, reload, stop and help buttons preset plus you can set five links of your own choosing. I love it.
Alright so I’ve got one of those microsoft optical mice. Any I love it, in Quake3 I play mainly rocket arena, left botton shoots, scoll wheel switches weapons wheel botton switches to rocket launcher left thumb button switches to rail gun, right pinky button switches to lightning gun and right button zooms, these freatures are an absoulte necessity in this game, I couldn’t live without them.
