Just a Couple of Things…

Made Another “Best Blogs” List

A company called MyTherapy, which makes a smart phone app that helps patients track their medications, recently compiled their list of 15 Excellent MS Blogs, and Enjoying the Ride made the cut. Check it out — and congratulations to the others who were mentioned.

A Programmer in the UK Comes to My Rescue 

I’ve developed a problem with mousing. Until recently, I could operate the right-click and left click buttons on my computer mouse. Lately, however, when my brain sends the command for either my index finger or my middle finger to click the appropriate mouse button, both fingers respond and both buttons are depressed. This tends to screw things up.

I can use my voice recognition system, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, to accomplish mouse clicks, but that has its drawbacks, primarily that I’m not always alone at my computer, and a constant cadence of "mouse click” and “mouse right click” could drive Kim insane. Since I use the right button so much less than the left, I looked for a program that would allow me to disable my right mouse button, but keep my left one active. I would then use Dragon NaturallySpeaking just for the right-click function.

I found what looked like a great program online. It’s shareware, meaning the developer charges no money for it. The program is called X-Mouse Button Control. Sure enough, there was an option to disable the mouse’s right button, and I selected it (by left clicking on it, ironically). Then I tested. When I clicked the right button, nothing happened. Excellent. However, when I gave the “mouse right click” command through Dragon, nothing happened either. Damn.

So, I wrote to the application developer, Phil, who lives in the UK, and asked if he could change his program so that I could accomplish my goal. Within a few minutes, he responded that he would give it a try. The next day, he reported that the changes had been made. It worked perfectly. I can now control my left button with my index finger and my right button with my voice, and it doesn’t matter what I do with my middle finger that rests on the right mouse button.

It’s refreshing to have a perfect stranger, from halfway around the world, respond so enthusiastically to a request like mine. Although this is shareware, it comes with a “donate” button, and donate I did.

Thanks, Phil.