New mouse

As I mentioned, I was planning on buying a new mouse and possibly keyboard. In the end, I went for a MS Intellimouse and a MS keyboard of some kind. This post will be about the mouse.

The name is Intellimouse Explorer 3.0. It cost the equivalent of ca 40$, which I consider my limit for a mouse. It had gotten some good reviews on the net, which I read on my iPhone while at the store. But the reviewers -- except one guy on a forum -- failed to mention that the new "improved" mouse has a seriously defective scrollwheel. I use my scrollwheel a lot. Mostly on webpages of course, but also heavily in Visual Studio, and to some extent in other programs such as the Windows Explorer. The problem is that is is clunky. It takes too much effort to use and sometimes gets stuck.

The guy on the forum suggested to fix the mouse buy bending one of the clips inside the mouse. I tried that but it didn't work. He was right though in that the hole for the right side of the wheel is too large.

My solution was to put a small piece of paper on the bottom of the hole. It is important to make it exactly as wide and thick as it should be. If it is too thick, the wheel won't scroll at all. If it is too thin, it won't be much of an improvement. To make it thicker use layers of paper. Put the layers in your mouth to make them stick together.

It is also important that the part above of the middle mouse button is slightly thicker. Otherwise you won't be able to press that button. Also make sure that the piece is not so big that it covers the right mouse button.

It may take some time to get the piece to the exact right size.

The image is not of great quality but you can see the reddish piece of paper underneath the wheel.

It is also important that the paper is glossy so that the wheel slides. Here is an actual example of glossy paper.

By the way, after some effort on my side, sending mails and sms, I will be getting my wall mounted coat rack back next week! It's important to know what one is entitled to.