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  • Wednesday, June 19, 2013

How To Customize The Acceleration Settings On Your Mac’s Mouse Or Trackpad

Monday, December 3, 2012 | Jack D. Miller Posted In Cheap Mac Apps

Smooth CursorIs your Mac in set-it-and-forget-it mode most of the time? That’s probably one reason why we enjoy using the Mac so much in the first place. Set it, then forget about it.

Most of the time the settings Apple gives Mac users are for our own good and work just fine, but there are times when a little more customization and control is desired. That’s the case for those of us who find Apple’s mouse and trackpad settings to be a little on the anemic side.

There’s a better way and it’s free.

Accelerate Your Mac

No matter what size your Mac’s screen, having the screen pointer move to match the screen and your wrist motion can be improved with the right app.

Add Smooth Cursor to your Mac and control and customize the acceleration settings of both mouse and trackpad separately.

Why would you want to do that? Smooth Cursor makes the screen pointer move more effortlessly, either quicker and slower (depending upon your preferences) with less wrist motion.

Once you set it to match your screen and your motion, it’s mostly forget it, but Smooth Cursor has a few other options worth noting.

There’s an enforce mode to keep your settings the same even when other apps want to exercise control acceleration.

Settings are enabled and disabled from the Mac’s Menubar.

Smooth Cursor

You’ll need to use a little trial and error to get the mouse acceleration and trackpad acceleration just right.

Simply move the slider bars for each, left or right, and try moving the screen pointer until settings are just right.

Smooth Cursor Preferences

Any Mac user who sits in front of the screen and chases the screen pointer around all day will understand the need for more granular control of the pointer’s fluidity.

That makes it easier to move the screen pointer quickly across a large Mac screen, or prevent it from jamming into the side of the screen on a small MacBook screen.

What I don’t understand is why Apple doesn’t provide more detailed control of the Mac’s basic pointing device.

Try A Related Article

  • 5 Ways This Is The Best Mac Mouse Pointer Ever
  • Forget The Mouse Or Trackpad And Control Your Mac Using Only The Keyboard (yes, it’s possible)
  • The Craziest Way Ever To Use A Mac Mouse App
  • A Secret Way To Bring Each App’s Menu Right To The Mouse Pointer On Your Mac
  • 1 Mouse And 1 Keyboard Can Control Multiple Macs

From Apple Villagers

Kate asks the question Wall Street folks won't ask. 'If The Cloud Is The Future Where’s The Money?' We don't know, either. Ron came up with a list of The Top 3 Non-Apple Photo Apps On The App Store.

Elsewhere, Tera has a few notes on iOS 7: What’s Better? What’s Worse? Will It Matter? Jeffrey found 4 Ways You’ll Like This Free And Better Way To Get iTunes Music Lyrics On Your Mac. And, finally, System Lens App Is The Clever, Simple, Non-Geeky Way To Manage Your Mac’s System Resources. Why? Because non-geeks are not supposed to ask questions.

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About Jack D. Miller

I work for a US technology company in Paris, France and switched from Windows PCs to the Mac 12 years ago. My wife said it would improve our marriage, give us more friends, and reduce stress. I guess that two out of three isn't bad. Read more of my articles here.

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