Rosie's Reviews

By sandra Rosenzweig
     
      Thanks to the weirdest computer conflict I've ever had, I recently discovered an ergonomic mouse that may save my right wrist. (Something needs to-I'm not prepared to give up computers. Or my job.) 3M's Ergonomic Mouse, otherwise known as 3M's Ergonomic Optical Mouse, attaches to either a PS/2 mouse port or a USB hub or port and works as soon as you get the plug seated. If you're running a relatively recent version of Microsoft Windows, you don't need to install drivers. Just plug the mouse in, place it next to your keyboard, open your right hand and turn your flat palm to the left, grab onto the grip, and start sliding the thing across a smooth surface. A joystick, that's what it feels like. A three-button joystick-there's a toggle-type button on top for your thumb, and a large flat button in the grip for scrolling. 3M offers downloadable utilities for customizing and combining your clicks so you can position your hand most comfortably, and adjust what the buttons do and how quickly and precisely they do it. I was too chicken to try these because the 3M website makes no mention of Windows XP on its download page (Windows 95, 98, and 2000 are indeed listed).
     
      Consider this only a first look. I've used the Ergonomic now for only three days and can well believe 3M's warning that it takes a couple of weeks to get used to this thing. Right now, all I can say is that it installs as if it were always meant to be tethered to your computer, and it seems to tame the sharp pain in my wrist.
     
      Oh, and the weird computer conflict? I've already given away half the punch line. The screen saver on one of our systems, you see, didn't work. Ever. Now, we don't need screen savers the way we did when flying toasters saved our CRT monitors from burning a permanent image on our screens. But they're fun to look at and they cover up whatever you have left on the screen when unexpected visitors drop in. Finally, they're supposed to work. And if they're supposed to work, they darned well better work.
     
      None of the predictable fixes worked, so I turned to The Ultimate Troubleshooter (from AnswersThat Work.com, $29, and it is indeed pretty ultimate but rather techie) to see what was running that could conflict with a piddly little screen saver. Struck out again, so I tried some of my other favorite tweakers and registry editors: good old reliable WinGuides Network's Registry Guide for Windows, $29.95, and Tweak Manager, $39.95, www.win guides.com, both of which walk you through a large choice of registry changes and tweaks. And I always check Microsoft's free TweakUI PowerToy (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/ downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys. mspx), which provides fewer tweaks but in a much less techie format. That offered me the chance to enable my screensaver. Aha, I thought, this is it. But it wasn't.
     
      After two weeks (on and off) of Googling and fiddling, I spotted a very short, two-line comment on some gaming forum about the way the newly updated drivers for the Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse killed off one's screensaver. My mouse? My beloved wireless mouse that came with my beloved Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop? But, alas, when I uninstalled both the wireless mouse and keyboard and reinstalled a very old Compaq corded mouse and an even older keyboard, up popped my screensaver.
     
      After mousing free of tethers for a few years now, mousing with a cord attached took a few days to get used to, but by then I was testing Microsoft's comfy Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, with its faux-firm touch (i.e., it feels firm but requires very little effort to depress the keys) and such niceties as a number pad with integrated keys for the equal sign, parentheses, and backspace; a precision zoom button in the middle of the keyboard; back and forward arrows just below the zoom; and a whole bunch of customizable keys. Anything to make my screensaver happy.
     

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