Middle mouse button?

What is it about Dell and the middle mouse button?
Of all the Dell machines I've seen, only one has a working
middle mouse button (Kensington on an XP), and that's
only because the software that came with the mouse
was successful at overriding whatever Dell does. I've
never seen a Logitech mouse work correctly (maybe
ones that have been developed since Vista came out
fare better.

What can be done?

--
J. Giles

journey wrote:
> - Which Dell you are talking about.

Several. I have an Inspiron e1505 and a Dimension e521.
But I've seen other models with the same problem.

> - Which mouse hardware you are talking about

The mouse delivered with the Dell, for starters. The Inspiron
didn't have one, of course, but the Dimension did. The bundled
mouse *has* a middle button, but pressing it does nothing. None
of the old Logitech (old, as in a couple of years) mice I have
work (though they work on non-Dell systems). The don't work
on either the Inspiron with XP nor the Dimension with Vista.
Several other Dell users I know have other varieties of mice
and no function on their middle button.

> When you say middle mouse button:
>
> - Do you mean scrolling?
>
> - Do you mean pressing the scroll wheel to get a middle click?

Scrolling is a wheel. Pressing is the button. It's pressing that
doesn't work. The wheel always works. The software even
allows an adjustment of the scrolling speed, but the software
doesn't even mention the middle button (the button part of the
config software only mentions two buttons).

> Did you install the Logitech (or Kensington) software?

On XP I installed the Logitech software - no middle button
function though. Logitech claims that the software shipped
with my mouse won't work with Vista (and I tried it: it doesn't).
They claim Vista has the proper drivers built-in. But all I
get on Dell is "HID compliant mouse".

--
J. Giles

WaIIy wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:16:13 GMT, "James Giles"
> <> wrote:
>
>> journey wrote:
>>> - Which Dell you are talking about.
>>
>> Several. I have an Inspiron e1505 and a Dimension e521.
>> But I've seen other models with the same problem.
>>
>
> I have an e1505 and a Microsoft Wireless mouse. 3000?
> It was about $35.00.

Yeah, my e1505 is where I'm using the cheap Kensington.
It works (including the middle button). I have my system
set to disable the touchpad if there's a mouse connected.
(This is because I really don't much like touchpads and
only want one when no mouse is available.)

Right now what I really want is to get my old (well, just
prior to Vista aged) Logitech wireless mouse to work with
my Dimension. Even if I were sure I had the right driver,
the config software doesn't even mention a middle button...
Everything else works just fine. But I really miss that middle
button.

--
J. Giles

"I conclude that there are two ways of constructing a software
design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously
no deficiencies and the other way is to make it so complicated
that there are no obvious deficiencies." -- C. A. R. Hoare

"Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability" -- E. W. Dijkstra

journey wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:16:13 GMT, "James Giles"
> <> wrote:
>
>>> Did you install the Logitech (or Kensington) software?
>>
>> On XP I installed the Logitech software - no middle button
>> function though. Logitech claims that the software shipped
>> with my mouse won't work with Vista (and I tried it: it doesn't).
>> They claim Vista has the proper drivers built-in. But all I
>> get on Dell is "HID compliant mouse".
>
> I think that's where your problem is -- you need the Logitech software
> that's compatible with your hardware. I recently got a Logitech mouse
> for my laptop and used the most up-to-date software on Logitech's web
> site. I think if you install that, your middle button will work.

Well, that fixed it. Even though Logitech's web site says I don't
need any additional software for my particular mouse. It turns out
that Vista has the Logitech drivers, but not the SETPOINT program.
And, contrary to logic (and to Logitech), I do need that program.

Of course, this still doesn't explain why the Dell mouse doesn't
work. And it was shipped with the system itself. It turns out
that the middle button does do something - it has two functions
if you are running internet explorer. (The Logitech mouse did
this too.) But why the Dell software doesn't provide a way to
change/extend the function of the middle mouse is still a mystery.
SETPOINT does nothing for Dell's mouse.

--
J. Giles

test
"James Giles" <> wrote in message
news:m3d8k.70444$...
> What is it about Dell and the middle mouse button?
> Of all the Dell machines I've seen, only one has a working
> middle mouse button (Kensington on an XP), and that's
> only because the software that came with the mouse
> was successful at overriding whatever Dell does. I've
> never seen a Logitech mouse work correctly (maybe
> ones that have been developed since Vista came out
> fare better.
>
> What can be done?
>
> --
> J. Giles
>