Thus, I decided to look at Ottawa-based Toggle Software's ToggleMOUSE v4.4.6. I thought... what's so special? Well, it turns out it provides all of the above and an impressive array of additional features. ToggleMOUSE, which is available for Windows 9x and NT, does not replace your existing mouse driver. It loads via your startup group and resides in the system tray. A single click on its icon in the tray opens the configuration screen where you choose from 17 tabs packed with options. 

Spicy Computing

For those who think variety is the spice of computing, there are 247 unique mouse cursors organized into 23 themes. Many of the cursors are animated, especially the busy cursors. There are high-visibility cursors: great for laptop computers and fun themes like sports, music, vegetables, and nature. You can easily mix and match from various themes as well. 

Features available to help you find your mouse cursor include mouse trails, a hot key to move it to the centre of the screen, and an option to make it move to the default button of a dialog box. If that's not enough, you can make the pointer flash after you haven't moved it for a while or add a hot-key that pops up a pointer to the pointer. If you can still manage to lose your mouse pointer, it may be time to give up your computer! 

For productivity, there is a myriad of options. You can add single-click options to desktop items and list boxes, change the middle button on a 3-button mouse to a double-click, enable screen wrap and make windows active simply by pointing at them. A really nifty option I love is one that makes the mouse cursor disappear as soon as you start typing. Just move the mouse to make it reappear. 

Wheel-less Wheels

If you feel left out because your mouse does not have a wheel to enable scrolling, ToggleMOUSE comes to the rescue, adding horizontal and/or vertical scrolling features to almost any application with a regular mouse. And if you do have a wheel mouse, you can set Ctrl-wheel to switch you between open applications. It can also add wheel scrolling to applications that are not wheel-aware. 

Quick access to frequently needed items is a key feature of ToggleMOUSE. You can pop up a clock/calendar at the pointer and set hot-keys for 20 pre-defined functions such as starting Notepad, closing the active window, and logging off the computer. If you find yourself often minimizing applications so you can access desktop items, ToggleMOUSE can provide a menu of all desktop items simply by moving the pointer to the top-left corner of the screen. 

If you miss the recorder feature included with Windows 3.x, ToggleMOUSE provides a mouse and keyboard recorder. You can elect to run a macro a single time or loop through multiple times. You can even adjust the speed of playback. 

If you want to set aside your mouse, you can use your keyboard as a mouse. Choose from the numeric keypad (you can restrict it to work only if the numlock is on or off) or the Ctrl key in combination with I, J, K, and M. The number of screen pixels moved per keystroke is adjustable. You can even use your joystick as a mouse if you want! 

If you do training or demos, there is a really nifty feature that adds a tooltip at the mouse pointer that tells if you clicked, right-clicked, or double-clicked. 

ToggleMOUSE is available for the bargain-basement price of $27.50. Registered users are entitled to free upgrades forever. You can download a full-featured 30-day evaluation version of ToggleMOUSE from Toggle Software's web site at www.toggle.com or PUB II (togmouse.exe in the Miscellaneous Utilities file area.) For $27.50, you can get a registration code to unlock the software. Toggle Software can be reached at 237-4475. 

Membership Privilege

Don Leclair and Brian Qureshi from Toggle Software will be coming to the June OPCUG meeting. If you buy a copy at the meeting, you can get it for $20.00 and they will throw in a copy of ToggleDISKSPACE, a $20 value. ToggleDISKSPACE will help you manage your disk space. There are 15 different reports, history tracking, Internet cache management, disk performance tests, and more. 

ToggleMOUSE has such an impressive array of features that every user is bound to find at least a few features that will make using the computer easier, more efficient, and more fun. Do yourself a favour and take the 30-day trial version for a spin. 

Bottom Line:

ToggleMOUSE (Proprietary, ($27.50)
Version 4.4.6
Toggle Software
Tel: (613) 237-4475
http://www.toggle.com