The main reason I’m not as productive on my Mac as I want to be has nothing to do with working at home with three pre-schoolers.
Sure, they climb curtains, chase cats, pull hair, and scream. To some that could be distracting. Me? It’s just background noise, white noise, elevator music. The reason I don’t get as much done is because of my Mac’s mouse.
Multitouch Is Just A Fad
To hear my husband tell it, the reason I can’t, and don’t, get as much done on my Mac each day is because I refuse to pinch, swipe, swish, and tap my way into the 21st century.
Yes, I have an Apple Magic Mouse. And a Mighty Mouse. And a Magic Trackpad. And still I lag behind my Mac to-do list.
Apple likes the word magic. Honestly, Steve Jobs sprinkles Must Buy Apple Stuff™ dust on us while we sleep at night.
I’m not sure how he gets in the house, though. Regardless, I’m an old soul at heart, a throwback mommy who years for the days of banging keyboards, and clickity click click mousing.
My husband says I’d do better if I would simply go with Apple’s Force. Avoid the Dark Side of USB. Give up the Emperor of Scroll Wheels. Sorry, multitouch is just a fad. It will wear off. In the meantime, there’s SteerMouse. The old school way to move a pointer on the screen.
SteerMouse is a Mac app that gives your Mac’s mouse functionality so diverse and complex you’ll need two manuals, a neighbor, and someone from Home Depot to show you how to use it.
Does this look like fun, or what?
I’m serious. Look at those buttons. Look at those settings.
There’s not a finger-laden graphic anywhere to be seen. It’s all mouse, buttons, wheels, and cursor.
SteerMouse lets you program the buttons on your Mac’s mouse. Sure, Apple’s is leaving buttons behind, but the rest of us need something to click.
One button? Right click? Forget that. SteerMouse goes up to 16 buttons. 16? Yes, that’s six more than most of us have fingers on two hands.
While Apple ditches the click wheel we experienced Mac users love to hate, SteerMouse gives you more wheel options and settings.
Whole pages can go up or down with a mere push. The pointer can automatically be set to move to a window dialog box button (just like in Windows).
Pointer tracking speed can be adjusted so the pointer screams across those giant Mac screens. There’s even three options for Tilt Wheel users. Tilt Wheel? Yes. It tilts. And all this time I thought my mouse scroll wheel was just broken.
If you’re ready to add sensitivity that goes beyond back-to-back episodes of Dr. Phil, SteerMouse is the Mac app that does it.
