Sunday, February 26, 2006
The Joys of Being a Switcher
Among the more annoying things you'll hear a Mac user say is that their computer "just works." That's why we say it. To annoy you. That it's true is of secondary concern.
Every once in a (great) while something won't work. Like today. I installed a software app that was supposed to make my mouse acceleration work better. Now I've been pleased with the way my mouse (just) works, but I thought maybe I'm missing something. I've been pleased with some of the third-party apps I've downloaded recently, QuickSilver and ClearDock among them, so I gave USB-Overdrive-X a try. Could've been good, but it didn't support launching Exposé's "All Windows" feature. Had to go.
So I deleted the program, SOP for the Mac. My third mouse button (the scroll wheel) didn't work. I emptied the trash. Still no luck. A hard boot followed a soft boot. No and no.
Now here's where being a switcher paid off. I figured that some USB-Overdrive setting somewhere was still linked to the (now non-existent) application, just like happens on a PC from time to time. So I started hunting through cache directories and libraries and System Preferences (about a dozen times), trying to track down the problem. Finally, I tried the Utilities folder under Applications. Ta-da! Uninstall USB-Overdrive. Sound familiar PC users?
Ran the uninstall program (the only one in the Utilities folder BTW), rebooted as per the instructions, and my scrollwheel button is back in business. If I didn't have twenty-plus years' experience on Windows I might not have survived the ordeal.
My PowerBook "just works" again. Whew! It would've killed me if I had to stop saying that.
Every once in a (great) while something won't work. Like today. I installed a software app that was supposed to make my mouse acceleration work better. Now I've been pleased with the way my mouse (just) works, but I thought maybe I'm missing something. I've been pleased with some of the third-party apps I've downloaded recently, QuickSilver and ClearDock among them, so I gave USB-Overdrive-X a try. Could've been good, but it didn't support launching Exposé's "All Windows" feature. Had to go.
So I deleted the program, SOP for the Mac. My third mouse button (the scroll wheel) didn't work. I emptied the trash. Still no luck. A hard boot followed a soft boot. No and no.
Now here's where being a switcher paid off. I figured that some USB-Overdrive setting somewhere was still linked to the (now non-existent) application, just like happens on a PC from time to time. So I started hunting through cache directories and libraries and System Preferences (about a dozen times), trying to track down the problem. Finally, I tried the Utilities folder under Applications. Ta-da! Uninstall USB-Overdrive. Sound familiar PC users?
Ran the uninstall program (the only one in the Utilities folder BTW), rebooted as per the instructions, and my scrollwheel button is back in business. If I didn't have twenty-plus years' experience on Windows I might not have survived the ordeal.
My PowerBook "just works" again. Whew! It would've killed me if I had to stop saying that.
Mikesell
1 Snarky Remarks:
lindaruth, at 8:09 AM
Linda