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One of my standby third party OS X tweaks is Ben Hines’ MouseZoom. As I noted back in Odyssey 198, MouseZoom overcomes one of OS X’s more annoying shortcomings -- its poky mouse tracking speed. Some third party mice seem to track faster using the Apple driver that others, but even on the fastest setting, which is one of the first things I select when I’m configuring a Mac OS system, I still find the stock tracking speed banefully slow, even on a 1024 x 768 screen. I can’t imagine how anyone abides it on higher resolution displays. I use MouseZoom on both my iBook and my Pismo PowerBook, and wouldn’t want to be without it on either. MouseZoom is a simple preference pane that supercharges your mouse tracking speed. It is not a new mouse driver, just a pref pane. To use the MouseZoom prefPane, which is a tiny download -- the disk image is only 143k -- just drop it in your Home Folder’s ~/Library/PreferencePanes/ folder. Alternatively, you may put it in your /Library/PreferencePanes/ or /Network/Library/PreferencePanes folder if you wish the pane to be available to all users. When installed, it should show up in your “System Preferences” application at the bottom of the window under “Other”. If it does not show up, try logging out and back in. On my instrallations it showed up immediately in the System Preferences window, and I did not have to log out and in again. 
Ben Hines says that MouseZoom: In Geekspeak, MouseZoom 2.0+ sets the HIDMouseAcceleration and HIDTrackpadAcceleration keys in the IOHIDSystem class using IOHIDSetAccelerationWithKey. This is exactly the method Apple’s mouse prefpane uses - Ben just lets you set it higher. I’ll have to take his word for it. What you get is a preference pane with a simple slider that you can use to accelerate your mouse tracking speed. Values provided range from 0 to 10 in infinite gradations with entertaining names ranging from “Windows Slow,” through “Not Very Fast” (the fastest stock Apple setting), “OK Fast,” “Nice and Fast,” “Extremely Fast,” Uber Fast!.” “Wild Fast!” (the setting I use), Ridiculously Fast!!”, “G6 Fast!!”, and OS X Crazy Fast!!!,” For some idea of the potential, Apple’s MAXIMUM mouse tracking speed translates to 1.7 on the MouseZoom scale. 
There are separate tabbed windows with sliders provided for mouse and trackpad tracking respectively. I had to try the 10 setting, which turns the mouse cursor into a little ballistic projectile. Fun, but after some experimentation, I’ve settled on a value of about 6 for general use, but it’s easy to crank it up or down a bit for particular tasks. MouseZoom Hasn’t been updated for some time, but it’s hard to think of anything that needs adding. It requires OS X 10.1, and I’ve found it works fine with up to OS 10.2.6 so far. Note: MouseZoom does not work with USB Overdrive, use USB Overdrive’s settings instead. MouseZoom is freeware For more information, visit:
The OS X Odyssey archives may be accessed here: Note: Letters to Moore's Mailbag may or may not be published at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context. Opinions expressed in postings to Moore's MailBag are those of the respective correspondents and not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Editor and/or Applelinks management. If you would prefer that your message not appear in Moore's Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published. CM
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