Can variable mouse speed be disabled?

mfearbymfearby
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Is there any way to disable the variable mouse speed in in Mac OS 10.4.8? I'm a Windows user new to supporting Macintosh computers at work and there are a handful of things that really bug me, and this is one of them (apart from that, nice machines). I searched versiontracker.com for a utility that might be able to do this, and tried MouseZoom and iMouseFix, but both don't seem to have any effect on the variable mouse speed.



I have no interest in fine-grained control over the mouse for graphical work, so I just want to disable this feature completely. It's like the mouse is fighting me... just as I think I've almost reached the point where I want to click, the mouse gets frustratingly slow, and I have to move it even more.



I'm not trying to cast judgement on the Mac because of this, but there should be a preference option to disable it at the very least.



The argument that Windows users often put forward against the Mac on price isn't really valid, because the quality of the machines and bundled software is superb. From my perspective (as a non-gamer, too) it's the sprinkling of annoyances here and there (for which there are no preference panes to change them) that really keeps me from seriously considering buying a Mac at home.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    I don't think this can be done, at least I don't know of any program that could do this. But as you say, a lot of the "problems" are not really problems but rather a matter of preference. In all the years I've been working with both Macs and Windows, the huge difference in mouse behaviour also bugged me a lot.



    Usually, Windows users tend to set their mouse to very high speed settings (i.e. way too fast), a setting which I can't stand at all, and then say the Mac mouse is so slow. You might check the tracking speed in the Keyboard&Mouse preference panel and set it to a higher level to get faster mouse pointer movement.



    By the way, what mouse are you using with that Mac? From my experience, mice not from Apple but made by Microsoft or Logitech tend to behave horrible in OS X.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    macanoid(tm)macanoid(tm) Posts: 344member
    This might be a solution: MouseZoom
  • Reply 3 of 7
    mfearbymfearby Posts: 3member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gwoodpecker View Post


    By the way, what mouse are you using with that Mac? From my experience, mice not from Apple but made by Microsoft or Logitech tend to behave horrible in OS X.



    I believe the rodent that comes with the new iMacs is called a "Mighty Mouse" and that's what I'm using. The scrolley wheel is top-notch, but if find that I miss having "back" and "forward" buttons (I tried each of the pressure-point thingies on the side that normally shows Exposé but they don't do anything individually, and since it's difficult to press them individually, that's probably no surprise).



    I was initially impressed that the apparently single-buttoned mouse could actually tell the difference between a left-weighted click and a right-weighted click, but after a fair amount of use, I still find it cumbersome to activate a right-click every now and then.



    I have upped the mouse speed to maximum and found that this does lessen the noticability of the variable mouse speed, but it still throws me off sometimes. It seems to me that it should be very simple for Apple to provide a preference setting for this, so why not do it? There are far too many things on the Mac that are "one size fits all" and some quick-and-easy preference settings here and there to make things usable for newcomers would go a looooooong way to easing a switch to the Mac, IMHO.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    mfearbymfearby Posts: 3member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macanoid? View Post


    This might be a solution: MouseZoom



    As far as I could tell, MouseZoom simply allows you to increase the mouse speed to insanely fast levels. It didn't seem to eradicate the variability in mouse speed, alas.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    macanoid(tm)macanoid(tm) Posts: 344member
    You're right. It was something I overlooked as I was trying to find a freeware solution. Perhaps Steermouse might be what you're looking for. It's not free unfortunately, but then, it does a few other useful things too. I use it and am quite happy with it.



  • Reply 6 of 7
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    USB Overdrive provides similar controls and more, particularly button reassignment. You can use it for free, but it has a "welcome" window that shows up on login, and there is an 8 second delay to get into the preference pane.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    The term you're interested in is "acceleration".

    You're looking for a non-accelerated mouse response curve.
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