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I haven't seen a genuine 3-button mouse since the mid-90s and although the mouse-wheel is clickable on every wheel mouse I've ever used, I don't find this useable. Yet I find myself using 3D modeling applications which seem to be designed by people who live in a world where 3-button mice are commonplace.

So I'm wondering if anyone knows where a mouse can be obtained that has a useable middle button (preferably in addition to the wheel). I know there are lots of multi-button mice, but they have the extra buttons all over the place except where I want them (i.e. between the left and right buttons).

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It would help if you could tell what do you find unusable about the most mouses's "wheel button"? Just asking because I spend an average of 4-6 hours a day in CAD work, working with a 15 dollar mouse, and it seems fine. – Rook Sep 3 '10 at 22:25
To press the wheel requires significantly more pressure than the left and right buttons on mice I've used and it requires some concentration to press it without unwanted turning. – U62 Sep 3 '10 at 22:31
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U62 - Uh, if that's the problem than you're gonna have a hard time finding one different. Because, if it had the same pressing force as the others, you would find it difficult to work with, because you would always press it while turning the wheel. – Rook Sep 3 '10 at 22:59
Well exactly, which is why I said in the question that I'd rather have a button than a wheel - it's not like they can't put the wheel somewhere else. – U62 Sep 3 '10 at 23:22
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6 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

There's this insanely expensive ergo mouse. But that's pretty much it :-(.

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up vote 1 down vote

Nearly all modern mice have a third mouse button - it is when you press the wheel in and it is usually always defaulted to a scroll control so that you can move around a page.

However, the third button can be, and usually is configurable on a program by program basis - for example, in Google Sketchup, it is set to rotate my model.

As for even more buttons - look for gaming mice, nearly all of them are nothing special, simply additional buttons which you can assign a macro to.

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up vote 1 down vote

HP had a nice three-button optical mouse that could be ordered by certain customers. That was only a few years ago. I could never find it on the web. The information on the bottom of the mouse is

M/N: M-UY 101
ASSY P/N: 361781-003
SPARES P/N: 389026-001
C/T: F96390A5BV501PI

You might try phoning your local HP rep or HP customer support and see what they say. Good luck.

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up vote 1 down vote

This one's slightly cheaper and has a unique orientation.

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up vote 0 down vote

I've used this utility in the past to configure the middle button to do what I wanted.

http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/XMouseButtonControl.htm

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I know some mice have a fourth button, where your thumb would rest. Would you be able to get one of those and configure the fourth button to do what you want to do?

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