Macbook-like Two Finger Scrolling in Windows

A useful but often overlooked feature of the modern Macbooks is the multi-touch trackpad. This work horse is capable of recognising many gestures, including two-finger scrolling and tapping. Let’s bring that functionality to Windows.

This is a mildly technical post detailing how to enable Macbook-like 2-finger scrolling on your Windows notebook touchpad.

My Digital Life has outlined the way to do this. The process is pretty involved.

First, you’ll need to download some modified Synaptics drivers¹ . Then, follow the installation instructions detailed:

Installation:

1. Uninstall all current Synaptics drivers from Control Panel’s Add and Remove Programs or Programs and Features.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Install the modded driver by running the setup.exe inside the ZIP archive.
4. Windows should prompt a warning about unsigned driver. Continue to install the driver anyway.
5. Restart the computer after installation is completed and Synaptics TouchPad driver is updated.
6. In Device Manager’s Mouse and Other Pointing Devices” section, Synaptics PS/2 Port Touchpad should have driver version of 10.2.4.

When you’re done installing the modified driver, you have to install an open-source program called two-finger-scroll. There is no software to install, just double-click the executable file.

One last thing. In order for two-finger scroll to work properly, you need to disable all 2-finger commands, and all virtual scrolling except for horizontal (you might want to keep this on, since two-finger-scroll doesn’t work horizontally..

Disable 2-finger commands by going to: Control Panel > Mouse > Device Settings > "Two Finger Gestures and un-checking “Enable two finger gestures”.

Finally, disable virtual scrolling by going to: Control Panel > Mouse > Device Settings > Virtual Scrolling and un-checking “Enable vertical scrolling” and “Enable ChiralMotion scrolling”.

And you’re done!

Extra:
Two-finger-tap = right-click

You can also enable a two-finger-tap to mean a right click using the same application. Here are the settings I’ve used.

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1: Enable Multi-Touch Gesture (Finger Scroll, Momentum, and ChiralMotion on Synaptics TouchPad in Windows 7/Vista/XP/Server [My Digital Life]

Disclaimer: Try this at your own risk. It worked for me, but it might not work for you. Whatever happens, I’m not responsible. Thanks!

The Mouse Turns 40 Today

Happy Birthday to our humble little mouse. It’s hard to think that that little bit of hardware has been alive for forty years now.

Most hardware in use 40 years ago (keyboards excluded) has been completely phased out. Yet, despite it being so old, I can’t think of many more efficient, cost-effective, and accessible ways to access a computer.

We might soon have touch-screen computers and voice-commands – but I think the mouse is here to stay a good bit longer!

[The computer mouse turns 40 – via Macworld]
_{photo from funnyphotos.net.au}

The Power of the Optical Mouse

I'm continually frustrated by the trackpad on my Extensa laptop. It's not that it's a particularly bad trackpad, it's just frustrating.

Trackpads don't help at all when it comes to precise mouse selection. If you've ever tried to use Photoshop on a laptop you'd know what I mean.

Photo Credit

The optical mouse is a great tool for the modern laptop user. The great thing about them is you can use them on virtually any flat surface to a reasonable degree. They even work on bedsheets.

One thing about trackpads - dragging and dropping from one end of the screen to another is just so difficult to do. From a design perspective it's hard to make this any easier to do with a trackpad.

You can do everything you want to with a trackpad, but it just takes so much longer and is so much less satisfying to use than a simple optical mouse.

The mouse was designed to fit the palm and move a cursor in co-ordination with your hand. It wasn't intended to be a small, flat surface which only reacts to finger movement. Give use something substantial.

The point: for all you laptop users who haven't yet bought an external mouse, buy one right away. You don't need me to tell you. It's obvious! Get it optical too. No trackball cleaning to do and much more versatile. I don't care about wireless but you might. Free yourself from the shackles of the 2"-wide miserable bit of plastic you call your mouse.