WizMouse is a free utility that enhances the middle-mouse scroll-wheel in a couple of interesting ways. It allows page scrolling via the scroll wheel when hovering over a window, even if it is out of focus, and without having to click into the window first to bring it into focus.
This can be very useful when looking at information in multiple windows, in that you can scroll down without having to interrupt whatever application you’re working in, and without having to have the main window you are working with covered by another that you want to scroll down. It sounds like such a little thing but the effect is quite nice in practice.
WizMouse can also enable mouse-wheel scrolling in applications that do not support it, or those where mouse-wheel support is glitchy and/or unreliable (if you’ve ever had to resort to the arrow keys to scroll down because the program would not respond to the mouse wheel, that would be an example).
More notes on this:
- How it works: stays in the background, and is accessed via an icon in the system tray. Otherwise it just works.
- Memory usage: at just over one meg in memory, this is a truly lightweight program.
The verdict: I did not think much of this software at first, except once I got used to it I really liked the effect of being able to scroll down with the mouse wheel without clicking into a window first. Especially useful if you are looking at multiple pages and would like to be able to browse displayed information smoothly and without interruption.
But the secondary function (enabling mouse wheel scrolling in applications without mouse wheel support) is, in my view, equally important. This benefit is somewhat invisible unless, of course, you happen to be using applications that offer glitchy scroll wheel support (or no support at all), and then — lo!, you notice that mouse scrolling is all of a sudden miraculously working.
Finally, kudos to the developers for making this useful program so tiny!
Version Tested: 1.6.0.0
Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.
Go to the program home page to download
the latest version (approx 587K).
While I haven’t used WizMouse, I’ve found KatMouse (http://ehiti.de/katmouse/) to be a decent alternative to this. And I agree, it’s a very useful feature, especially if you work with multiple monitors!
Yep, that just seems intuitive to how it should work.
I had a weird few seconds after I installed it where the mouse was really slow to follow but then WizMouse activated and everything was right again.
Using dual monitors, this is a must-have.
Thanks!
Sweet. I had tried KatMouse in the past, but it conflicted with Autohotkey.
So far WizMouse works great!
Wheel Here 1.3.2 does the same thing
Best than all this ones you all said, is Taekwindow!
It scrolls behind the mouse AND make the alt+drag (left or right mouse button) to move/resize windows
It’s size is only 43kb and 600k of memory…
It’s portable and free
For now the best on its functions
katmouse seems to not work all the time in Win7
Thanks!
Two options I love is…
1. DeskAngel: First app I used to do that. Also has other nice features
2. AltDrag: Starting to use this more. Main feature is the click ALT to drag. But has other features as well as the unfocused scroll.
3. I tried Taekwindow as well… I like the two I mentioned.
What a shame, Linux and Mac OS X have this by default.
Works fine so far. Thanks !
I’ve used the little sucker forever. Can’t remember when I began working faster with my (copyrighted 1994-1996) excellent compact Oxford multilingual SuperLex dictionary because back then, I think, mouseEvents weren’t as widely used in PocketPC software.
Well, it’s also a plus to scroll under the window in focus.
Nice choice over Deskangel (my EmergeDesktop shell provides most of its features), over KatMouse (middle click will switch window anyway) and over TeakWindow (whose forte seems to be moving, pushing and resizing windows) for another good reason: tiny footprint.
@ Samer, hello from South Florida, old chap (ahem).
Are you the same Samer I see on my gChat screen?
Have you tried HotkeyP? Beats the mouse anytime to call programs and many system apps.
This combined with KeyTweak, you reprogram and/or reset any key — no more CAPS for example.
Anyway. Greetings to the Says family, and to your own.
I tried both WizMouse and TaekWindow on my Win7 64-bit system. Unfortunately, neither of them was able to add scrolling support to my older apps (most notably the indispensable Ecco), and hence swiftly ended up in my Recycle Bin. (Neither DeskAngel nor AltDrag even promise this capability, so they’re non-starters as far as I’m concerned.)
I’ve reverted to KatMouse, which despite its age still does everything it’s supposed to do: makes non-focused windows scroll, and adds wheel scrolling to older apps. My only complaint with the program is that while it does have a blacklist, it won’t seem to lock-out Photoshop. No big deal; when I’m image editing, I just have to remember to disable Katmouse via its tray icon.
I found the first downside to WizMouse: You’re no longer able to scroll down drop-down menus. It will try to scroll the page and ends up closing the drop-down.
Now I’m weighing which I prefer more, click then scroll or click the down arrow on a long drop-down menu.
Posting to inform that the lastest AltDrag (v0.9 as I type this) have now implemented this feature and it’s working as expected for me. Katmouse is, after many years, sitting in a corner
Isn’t this the same idea as the feature in windows where you hover over a window with the cursor and it brings it into focus?
Yes, it is. The ability to change focus with a move (hover) of the mouse is available in Windows 7 (and Vista?) through the Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Change how your mouse works > Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse
The ability to change focus with a move (hover) of the mouse is available in Windows 7 (and Vista?) through the Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Change how your mouse works > Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse