Comments on: Speed Up Your Mouse

By: Lovejoy

Lovejoy — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 17:13:13 +0000

My old mouse was faulty, so I change it for a Microsoft Track-Ball. At the beginning, it took time to use it, and now I have difficult using the old mouse on the other PC. My wrist would play-up if I use the old mouse.

Unfortunity, I can’t change the other as it’s the family PC. My point is I was able to increase the speed of the Track-Ball, and able to use it at once.

By: Godi

Godi — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 15:42:51 +0000

There is a reason why somebody might want to use a slow mouse speed. When you are doing a lot of very delicate, pixel-precise, work with a mouse it definitely helps to gain a finer control over the mouse movements when you set your mouse to a lower speed.

Also, greater distances you need to travel with your mouse are performed by other groups of muscles then the more finer movements. Doing this releases the small muscles in your hand of some very hard work, avoiding or lower the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome. Especially very small and precise movements are accomplished by your body by tensioning the muscles to a higher degree, thereby putting extra stress on those muscles. To see this for yourself, write something in your normal handwriting, now write something as small as possible and observe your fingers.

By: RUNAMUCK

RUNAMUCK — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 05:23:36 +0000

i actually like it now that its fast!…i thought it would be more “worst” but seems to be bearable..this is good

just joined the email list after comming across the site from a link posted on incomexchange.com

hoping to print off some of the articles and read it in my spare time..

cheers~!

By: Argenberg

Argenberg — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 11:00:16 +0000

Don’t forget to increase the mouse sample rate resolution, by changing the sample rate at:

Control Panel/Mouse/Hardware/Properties/Advanced Settings/Sample Rate

Change it to 200 samples a second, it is by default only 80.

I can see the difference in better controllability, and moving is smoother.

This is essentially important for high speeds.

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 13:27:17 +0000

I would like a two-speed mouse. High speed for most work, but by pressing a Shift or other key, the speed would drop to one half for finer detail work when editing photographs.

By: Eric Mack

Eric Mack — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 02:39:06 +0000

Thanks, Steve. Makes sense to me. I enjoy your blog and your focus. Keep up the good work!

Eric

By: Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 23:07:39 +0000

I’ve experimented with trackballs and touchpads over the years. I still do best with an optical cordless mouse. I just don’t find the touchpad precise enough with fine movements, so I wouldn’t touch it for art editing in Photoshop.

I’m left-handed, so I have the mouse buttons reversed and use the mouse with my left hand. I feel there’s some advantage to this because the way keyboards are designed, it’s less of a reach to move my left hand to the mouse on the left of the keyboard than it would be for a right handed person to grab the mouse on the right. With a mouse on the left, you only need to move your hand about 1/3 of the distance vs. if the mouse is on the right.

By: Eric Mack

Eric Mack — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 22:01:46 +0000

Steve, I’m curious: have you experimented to find out which type of mouse-pointing hardware is most productive for you?

I’m a fan of the IBM Trackpoint; others I know swear by a touchpad; while still others like a non-keyboard-based mouse.

What works best for you?

Eric

By: John Richardson

John Richardson — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 21:33:06 +0000

The best thing I have found is to get an optical, USB mouse. I set the speed as high as I can comfortably work with. The size and resolution of the monitor may be a factor here. I definitely like it faster on a large monitor. When working with Photoshop and other graphics programs though… slower is better.

BTW… There is nothing worse than a rubberball mouse that skips.

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 18:34:27 +0000

Another tip for the use of the mouse, not related to speed, but something that might help if you have wrist inflammation or elbow strain when using the mouse:

Put the mouse in front of you, between you and the computer keyboard. This may mean you have to push the keyboard a fit farther away so you have room between the edge of your desk and the keyboard.

The benefit is that your arm is in a more natural and supported (by your desk) position, with the hand in front of you near your center, instead of out to the side where the position also tends to put a twist on your elbow and shoulder.

The usual position of the mouse to the side of the keyboard also puts your hand holding the mouse in such a way that the outside (pinky) tendon at the wrist is in a kink, putting it at risk of inflammation and tendintis. The mouse-in-front-of-you position has the hand position where the outside tendon tends to be in a straight(er)-line position, thus less risk for inflammation.