COMPUTER - PERIPHERALS - 02.08.2011

There’s more to a mouse than meets the eye

More actions

The StrokeIt tool (http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit) allows you to link (a set of) actions to specific mouse gestures - e.g. an “M” gesture for launching your e-mail program. It recognises a lot of predefined figures but you can also teach StrokeIt new gestures. Some figures are recognised by default by certain programs, e.g. browsers, but this tool works in any Windows application.

Note. You should always hold down the right mouse button when performing the mouse gestures. During our tests this sometimes caused a conflict, as the right mouse button also opens context menus in Windows.

If you aren’t completely satisfied with StrokeIt, try an alternative such as gMote (http://download.cnet.com - type “gMote” in the search field) or Just Gestures (http://www.justgestures.com). These tools are free too. Note. Learning to work with mouse gestures make take some time and effort, but you will soon get the hang of it.

Multiple monitors

When you use multiple monitors connected to one single computer, you will have found that it’s often difficult to move the mouse cursor from one monitor to the other. Graphic designers are often faced with this problem, as they have to cover longer “distances” with the mouse. Do you also have this problem? Try a tool such as Multi Monitor Mouse (http://download.cnet.com - type “Multi Monitor Mouse” between quotation marks). This free tool lets you switch from one monitor to the other swiftly, in combination with a key on your keyboard.

Tip. You can configure the “placement mode” to be relative: this sets whether the cursor should move to the same location as on the previous monitor after the “mouse jump”, or at the centre. You can change these settings via the System Tray.

A similar tool is Mouse Warp (http://www.teslacore.it/wiki/index.php?title=Mouse_Warp). Here again you can enable an “always centre” option.

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Is your text on your computer monitor not always legible? ST Magnifier (http://www.screentools.us/screen-magnifier.html) can help: this tool transforms your mouse cursor into a magnifying glass. After installation you will see a new icon in the System Tray: clicking on this icon switches between the cursor and the magnifying glass.

Tip. Switching back from the magnifier to the cursor is done by means of the Esc-key. In Settings you can set the degree of magnification, but you can also adjust this by means of the mouse wheel. An alternative tool is OneLoupe (http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Microsoft/OneLoupe). Here you can modify the zoom range and the zoom factor, both via the keyboard and mouse.

Hear more

To control the audio volume in any application using your mouse in combination with a key on your keyboard, install Volumouse (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/volumouse.html) or the even more versatile VolumeTouch (http://volumetouch.en.softonic.com).