Based on all the comments from my last post (the one below this one), I decided to hunker down and find the ultimate OS X mouse tracking solution. Relying solely on my Google-fu, I found what I was looking for. So, major ups to Big Brother Google!
It’s called SteerMouse. $20 and worth every penny. I dare you to try it and NOT buy it.
SteerMouse let’s you turn down (or off) OS X’s mouse acceleration: the unconfigurable OS X mousing property that makes long-time Windows users want to throw their Mac (mouse, keyboard and all) out the nearest window.
Again, I’m not talking about the mouse SPEED. I’m talking about the mouse ACCELERATION. Acceleration is what makes OS X’s mouse tracking feel like you’re mousing through mud. This is what you’ve got to turn down and unfortunately can’t because OS X’s Mouse preferences won’t let you.
SteerMouse is the solution we’ve (us long-time PC users) been waiting for. It’s working as advertised. I’ve had to use some pretty unorthodox settings to really make it feel like the Microsoft Mouse tracking I’ve gotten used to.
My SteerMouse recipe
I hope you get some use out of this one! Save the flames, kids. I’m a switcher since 2001. Yes, I’ve been using Microsoft’s mouse driver until today. Yes, SteerMouse is a much better solution.
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I am going to try it but it doesn’t look like it supports the built-in track pad on a PowerBook
Yeah what about the trackpad on the iBooks & Powerbooks? Anyone come across something good?
Looks like SideTrack works on all the laptops now, it used to not support mine. It still disables to finger scrolling but maybe it’ll work.
http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/
I dunno, it’s still $20, and I shouldn’t have to buy anything extra.
I’ll stick with Windows in the meantime!
i still prefer usboverdrive, but this is a nice app.
USBOverdrive is still a shareware program. I fail to see how these are acceptable solutions for a problem the OS shouldn’t inherently have.
“I dunno, it’s still $20, and I shouldn’t have to buy anything extra. I’ll stick with Windows in the meantime!”
So your choice of computers is determined by twenty dollars? I think you have a conclusion desperately in search of supporting reasoning. And amazingly, I don’t use SteerMouse, and before this article didn’t know there was an “inherent problem” to begin with. It not like it’s something that’s got Apple baffled.
By the way, there’s no “start” button, either. But I’ll bet you could find a $20 piece of shareware that would add one. “What?! Pay money for a start button?!! Guess I’ll stick with Windows in the mean time.”
The funnniest thing is, back in the System 7 – OS 9 days, I used to HATE Windows because of the acceleration. I could never hit what I was aiming for. The mouse in Mac OS just did what I wanted. And then Windows’ mouse handling tamed down, and Steve took over at Apple and totally reversed the situation. Grrr.
hey you can download this for free at apple.com
finally, can use my mouse on my powerbook….. I use a PC all day at work, comeing home to a mac mouse is painfull..
I use a PC, but we are just out with a new product, and there will be MAC people asking about it. It is a “mousse” for people with arthritis of the hand, etc. (RSI) from using a mouse too much. Irt works fine on the PC but not on the MAC. The standard MAC can’t be set up with “SPEED” enough for our system move tghe cursor all the way across the screen. (we send out exactly the sasme signal that a standard (ball rolling) moused does). We set the acceleration to zero, but we want to be able to adjust the “SPEED” to higher than the MAC lets us.
Does this program do something to the configuration or is it a memory resident thing?
Okay, I tried it and it’s a memory resident thing. Doesn’t do much though. I think what it actually does is let the mouse cursor skip frames as to give it the necessary speed adjustment. It makes the cursor movement look jerkier.
never noticed the difference when I switched over three years ago, running windows right beside my MAC and can see any difference at all, I do run a lot of RAM, but cant see that making that much diff,)
Well, it’s too late for me. I bought a Mac laptop, frequently smiled at how beautiful things looked, but two problems were deal breakers
- The mouse acceleration curve. Several times I came close to throwing the damn thing against the wall
- I missed explorer. The tree view of the file system was just too useful. Plus other things that aren’t really worth detailing.
When my Mac was stolen after 6 months of trying to find solutions and trying to get used to it, I went and bought a Sony VAIO. I’m quite happy with it.
Oh thank god!
This made the switch easy.
Idiot! Finder DOES have a tree view, you just didn’t bother trying to look for it.
mousezoom is freeware and does the job
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9091
Finder doesn’t, at least not the same as Windows Explorer so don’t call him an idiot. I too hate this about Mac OS X.
I’ve also “upgraded” from Windows and I too I’m becoming disillusioned. It’s far more Unix-y for my liking and not nearly as user friendly as Windows. Simple things that are straight forward and intuitive are actually difficult or clumsy to do. Simple cutting and pasting a file for example can’t be done with out actually dragging it from one window to the next, WTF. Windows allows you to “cut” anything while mac greys it out for almost everything. Weird.
Also on windows you can simple drag any item into any window and it automatically works. This seems broken on Mac. e.g. In the documents folder in the Dock it only allows you to do this if it’s displayed as a grid or fan but not if it’s a list. Why?
I’m assuming/hoping these are just issues I’m having with getting used to Mac OS X however I’m not as impressed as I thought I would be… so far. That said there are little things I do like plus it does seem much more stable (due to it’s Unix heritage I guess). I just wish that Apple would learn from Microsoft as much as Microsoft is willing to learn from it.
I also find this a very silly problem, and it’s not just that Windows users would suffer from it. Basically any operating system has always had either a built in or a free method to control mouse acceleration, so I find it silly this isn’t implemented in OS X that is very mouse centered operating system in every way.
I tried Steer Mouse and it worked very well, but I haven’t found myself spending $20 yet on a feature that should be free. USB Overdrive worked too but it had some task switching related issues. MouseFix doesn’t work in latest OS X versions anymore.
i was ready to burn my mac and sell the footage to some poor anti mac organization to try and get my thousands of dollars back…please let this make me a believer in mac again! thank you plastic bugs
HELP!!!
Please! I am truly ready to throw my New 8 core Mac Pro out the window.
I installed Steer Mouse, and even though it helps, it has not fixed the problem with tracking entirely. I WAS a windows photoshop user, i have no desire or financial means to go back to windows. Over a period of five years, i built up a skill in photoshop, were i can paint faces in photoshop. I cant anymore…the cursor is unstable..it jumps…i have tried several methods, mouses, pads, pen tools, inorder to solve this problem in leopard….please if their is any one out there that knows how to fix this issue…please let me know…
justindingle@gmail.com
maybe i must go back to tiger?
i dont know….i just spend all my life savings on this edit
suite…but for designing purposes, which i need to do, inorder to complete some of my work, this system is useless…i am ready to sell it make a loss, and go back to xp prof…please anyhelp will be appreciated thank you
I feel your pain justin.. I feel exactly the same way, ive tried all these solutions, usboverdrive, steermouse etc, I cant seem to get the proper feel to be able to function properly on my brand new imac 2.8ghz……
Its very upsetting…. I cant believe this isnt a bigger problem then just a few blog posts on the net…… this is a monumental issue to me.. I cant function properly on my mac os X.. Is the curve different on leopard then it is on Tiger? I wish my imac came loaded with Tiger……. I seemed to like Tiger better.. I loved Tiger , i bought this mac, it came with leopard.. and id unno i cant put my finger on whats different but it feels alot different then tiger…
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME FIX MY MOUSE TO ACT LIKE XP.. not just similar.. but EXACTLY.. please someone write a decent app that copies the exact default curves from XP:D
My experiences and thoughts are echoed exactly here.
I bought a Mac Mini back in 2005 and it has never been right. I’ve used the standard Apple, single button mouse, a Logitech Trackman & lately a Logitech v470 (for which I installed the bluetooth upgrade myself). All have been affected to the same degree unless you’re prepared to use your Mac like an OAP.
The v470 is the worst offender – great in XP but infuriating in Mac OS X with Logitech in apparent ignorance over the problem.
This is my first Mac – I was hoping to move onto a bigger iMac this year. At this rate however, I’ll be using it as some kind of avant garde doorstop.
(
It appears the taste of the Apple experience is a bit sour.
Anyone found a fix yet?
I’m in desperate need of a solution to this problem, at the moment Os X is a completely useless gaming platform and a pain to use for anyone with a somewhat decent mouse aim.
I need something that can copy the XP acceleration curve. Shouldn’t be so hard to do for a programmer as the algorithms are available.
Check out System Preferences -> Universal Access -> Mouse & Trackpad – I set Initial Delay “” to Short(est) and seems to have alleviated the “sticking”
Hi guys,
I a long time Windows user as well and changed to Mac 2 years ago buying Macbook and liked it that much that had to buy iMac for working computer as well. Mouse acceleration problem doesn´t bother me that much when using laptop (I always use trackpad) but when working with this iMac the mouse acceleration problem had made me mad for almost 1,5 years now. I have had a lot of problems with my mouse hand because as used to XP-mouse I tend to squeese my mac-mouse a lot and if this keeps going I can´t work in one year time anymore. Have tried them all: Steermouse, USBoverdrive, Mousezoom etc. and like somebody mentioned here they all seem to fix mousemovement similar as in Windows but none of them do it EXACTLY which all we would prefer I guess.
I am more than happy if anybody comes out with a program that has XP-mouse algorithm in it so we all can smile again when using our Macs.
Hi mates!
I Agree with all of you, it is a big problem.
One thing I have notice is that all thing have some influence.
I mean; steer mouse, system preferences, and universal access. So you ´ll have to find the balance between all of them. My last configuration seems ok, but have to try for some ours to see the real effect..
Try playing with those 3 things and maybe we’ll find out.
I habe the initail delay at low and seems better.
I have the exact same issues. I use my computer for work and play 15 hrs most days, and just recently switched from Vista to Mac OS X for work… much of it has been a joy, but this is the single worst part of the switch. I feel completely gimped when working with the mouse. I shouldn’t have to think about where I want the cursor to go, instead I find myself limping the cursor over to where I want it to go. Learning curves are fine, but the manner in which Mac OS X’s mouse works makes me hope I do not learn such a feeble and ridiculously unintuitive system. I would not mind at all paying for a simple program that *really* fixed this issue.
I don’t get it. Steermouse only changes the speed. It has no effect on Mac’s lame acceleration curve. There seems to be no tool to actually change the curve. Tools like Steermouse only make it work poorly faster or slower.
I have to move between Linux, Windows and Mac through the day so there is no way to ‘get used to’ Mac’s lurching mouse. Nothing seems to fix this and I don’t even care about cost. Geeze, even my Amiga has a smooth acceleration curve. I’m guessing Jobs uses the Intellimouse driver so he doesn’t realize how bad this is for everyone else. All the “one button’s better” yes-men prevent the problem from being addressed.
SteerMouse does fix this problem as it lets you adjust the acceleration curve separately from the cursor speed. It’s a matter of finding a balance that works.
None of these tools fix the problem entirely. I’ve tried imouse, mouse steer, usb overdrive, microsoft’s mouse drivers, logic’s drivers, kensington’s drivers.. nothing seems to work. The OS X mouse curve hurts my hand like crazy and I’ve been working on macs for years. Way prefer the windows mouse curve and wish os x had a “windows mouse movement” option. Heck I’d pay for this option, this is ridiculous.
You may not be able to exactly replicate the Windows acceleration curve but you certainly can get something that is very comfortable to work with. It does require a bit of trial and error until you get the right settings. It’s important to change both the constant speed and the acceleration together. Using MightyMouse and SteerMouse together with a speed of 1.125 and a sensitivity of 125 gives me the right balance between covering distance easily and having fine control. Of course there is a learning period. I’d be interested to hear your feedback, but please note that these settings will apply only to the wired MightyMouse.
I’m glad I stumbled upon this discussion. I’m a heavy Photoshop user, who has been a Windows user for years. I’ve been having the same mouse tracking problem with my new MacBook Pro and it’s been killing my arm and wrist.. literally. I downloaded and installed the SteerMouse software, and my mouse is now very near what I had become used to in Windows XP. Thank you for posting the info for this software. I am eternally grateful! ..and to the genius who wrote the software.
Now I can get back to work!!!
I too am at the end of my rope with this crazy behavior. I cannot afford to go chasing this cursor around the screen anymore. And here they’ve got a multitouch trackpad built in, and what? We still have to make twenty sweeps to try to get to the other side of the screen? This is ridiculous.
Sadly, the guy who made the 1:1 Absolute coordinate plugin for the previous generation trackpads called “Sidetrack” says that updating the program to work on 2008+ macbook pros isn’t likely.
So in a few weeks, I’ll spend $3,000 having my MBP converted to a tablet, just to be able to accurately hit a spot with the cursor.
Apple adding some basic options here, and adding your choice of finder layout underneath the coverflow preview are the two things I can see doing that will make people the happiest the fastest. Figure it out, Apple.
I really don’t get this. Is it possible that all of the professionals that supposedly use OS X for really cursor-intensive tasks like graphic design and videography aren’t crippled by this?
I literally picked up my unibody last night like 5 times and almost threw it against the wall. I’ve now spent hours installing and playing with the settings on MouseZoom, SteerMouse, USBOverdrive, the Microsoft drivers, any and every combination I can think of. And VMWare running XP suffers from the same horrible inaccuracy.
I will seriously pay someone $1,000.00 if they can write an application that makes the mouse interpretation the same as Windows. Until then, using OS X is a simultaneous pain in the wrist and ass. Please. Anyone. Help.
Did you try out my settings for SteerMouse? It’s a matter of finding a balance between constant speed and acceleration.
- You must use only one mouse modification software at a time (uninstall any others)
- I have no idea how the trackpad is affected.
I am certain that anyone can get a comfortable mouse movement with SteerMouse if they set things up right.
I do wish Apple would build separate control of speed and acceleration into the preference panel (perhaps as an advanced setting).
David McGuigan: (Using a wired MightyMouse)
-Uninstall any 3rd party mouse software.
-In the OSX mouse preferences set tracking speed at second to highest.
-Install SteerMouse and use a speed of 1.125 and a sensitivity of 125.
-Tweak from there.
This solution will cost you $70 or less if you already have a MM.
So glad I’ve stumbled on this blog for Steermouse. The mouse behaviour of my Mac has been driving me mad ever since I started using it everyday in the recording studio nearly two years ago. (I’d much prefer to use a PC, but the studio manager insists on all suites using Macs for Pro Tools)
I’ve tried various other solutions, and steermouse is the closest so far. It’s still some way off XP behaviour – but definitely the closest I’ve tried.
One of the biggest changes in feel I acheived was by plugging in a microsoft mouse – the mac mouse is so clumsy to use, and those bloody buttons! Why they can’t just incorporate two individual buttons on the top of the mouse is anyone’s guess.
Is there an “I hate Macs” club I could join?
I have been working on macs for over half a year now and this acceleration causes me pain daily. Never mind that the “mighty mouse” is just downright terrible design.
I have also tried steer mouse and I think that “finding a balance” as has been said before simply isn’t good enough. The people that are seriously affected by this problem are the ones that want no acceleration at all. Even a little acceleration is just not good enough, it is better, but a miss by an inch is as good as a mile.
I too would pay some serious cash to anyone who could provide a fix for me. I can deal with OSX’s absolutely appalling way of dealing with programs and windows, and I can deal with the dock wasting half my screen, but such a simple task like moving a mouse should not be a concern in the first place!
Seems like more and more folks are getting annoyed. I’ve researched this topic heavily in the past but am not caught up to any developments that have been made up to this point. The only way to truly change the acceleration curve is to install ControllerMate. They’ve talked about this matter in the forums but I’m not up to date on any new developments (if any) that have been made there or beyond. Rumor has it that Apple fixed this is Snow Leopard… don’t know if that’s fact or fiction.