Ms Wireless Desktop

Yesterday, while perusing the aisles of MicroCenter, I fell victem to the blandishments of the new Microsoft wireless desktop suite.
You've probably seen them....mouse has a tilt scroll wheel and the keyboard has a million extra buttons plus it's own tilting scroll wheel.
$99.95 US.

The scroll wheel is incredibly smooth ( no ratcheting indents) and the shape is very comfortable.
I love the touch of the keyboard ( even though I'm just an advanced hunt-and -peck typist).

What a giant POS.
I should have known things weren't going to be rosy when I installed the software..."The software you are trying to install has not passed digital signing by Microsoft".
WTF???
It's a damn MS product!

After a bit of fiddling about getting the mouse and keyboard to connect to the receiver ( no big deal, really), I was prepared to be amused/gratified by all the features promised by the packaging.

Boy was I wrong.
The mouse scroll is indeed very smooth.
In the vertical mode, that is.
Horizontal (tilt) mode...NADA.

So I go to Control Panel>Mouse>Advanced ( or some such) and see AHA! a little check box "Enable horizontal scrolling".
Silly me.
Check box.
Reboot.

Zilch.
Hmmm.

On to the keyboard then.
What are all these cool extra buttons?
"My Favorites"?
Open a dialogue box and assign each of the five keys a path...
Okay, done.
Volume? Up and down...cool.
My Documents? My pictures? My Music?
Fabulous!

They lie.
Perhaps when i hit these, someone, somewhere is getting their music muted or their My Documents folder opened, but it surely ain't me.
The scroll wheel om the keyboard ?
Zip.

Huh?

Oh boy, let's run some diglnostics.
"This device is functioning properly".
Ah, no, it really isn't.

Let's run the "Connection Wizard".
"Not receiving any signal data".
How can this be? It's actually kinda working so there must be a signal.
After all, I can type and the cursor moves...the left/right click buttons work....

Time to get out the hammer.

Oh, and did I mention that all the time I'm struggling with this that I'm getting constant error messages..."blah, blah has encountered a problem and has to close, we are sorry for the inconvenience. Would you like to send an error report to Microsoft?"

Bloody hell.

Uninstall software.
Reinstall software.
Roll back drivers.
Update drivers.

So....
Today this gets thrown back into the (somewhat mangled) original packaging and takes a field trip back to MicroCenter.
There, some wonk can either point out the incredibly stupid error I have made ( doubtful, but I leave room for the possibility) or they can cheerfully refund my Ben Franklin.

There is a lesson here, but I'm not sure what it might be.

Anyone here have this desk suite?
Does it work for you?

I once had a wireless desktop by Microsoft. The small wireless receiver plugged into a USB and a PS/2 port. I had no problems setting it up, press the little button on the receiver, then the one on the underside of the mouse and keyboard. I didn't actually use the drivers till later, worked without them.

There were distinct disadvantages though, eg. the mouse was pretty jumpy, and therefore no good for gaming, and the keyboard skipped a letter randomly.
I went back to wires, and am having no problems with a Logitech mouse and keyboard combo.

EDIT: Actually, Mircrosoft peripherals are some of the best. They're always well made, and from things I've read the customer support is all very good too (they'll do something about dodgy hardware). Hardware is one thing, in my opinion, that Mircrosoft do properly.

EDIT 2: Is it just me or did you get screwed over badly?
Look, $60 here. I easily found a few others for $60-$75 too.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Mad Cat@13 April 2004 - 06:47
I once had a wireless desktop by Microsoft. The small wireless receiver plugged into a USB and a PS/2 port. I had no problems setting it up, press the little button on the receiver, then the one on the underside of the mouse and keyboard. I didn't actually use the drivers till later, worked without them.

---

Just like mine, Cat.

The basic functions work fine...I'm typing on the keyboard now ( the spelling mistakes are my fault, not Microsoft's), and the mouse works ( well. sorta).
But I paid the big bucks for all the extra features and none of them work!

Just cruised through Downloads.com looking for new drivers.
The only ones available are the 5.0 versions that come on the installation disc.
They have a 97% disapproval rating!
Apparantly everybody is having a problem with this setup.

Shoulda gone with logitech. I havent had any problems with any of their products. Im currently using a optical mouse, a scroll mouse in my old computer, speakers, keyboard, and a joystick. no problems with any of them.

As I said, I didn't use the drivers. I bet you can get some third party drivers if you really want to program those extra buttons. For me, the F-Lock keys etc are just annoying, as well as the My Documents etc keys.

:angry: Hey!!! Someone keeps muting my sound!!! :angry:

Return it and see if you can get Logitech.

Oh poop.

I love the mouse.
Well, the parts that work at any rate.

I like the keyboard.
Again, the parts that work.

I can't believe that MS would put out a product with such crappy software support.
Wait a minute...yes I can.

What to do, what to do.

I've lived this long without the extra keys and the "tilt-wheel technology", maybe I can just wait for new drivers to be released....

Quote:

---

Originally posted by clocker@13 April 2004 - 08:12
maybe I can just wait for new drivers to be released....

---

How long has that product been around? If they sell it without the proper support then what makes you think that they will provide it later on?

:angry: Did you just press the 'My Documents' key? :angry:

Well guess what?

Clocker got it to work.

"How?", you ask.

Easy, but time consuming.
Reformat/reinstall XP and load the software for the mouse and keyboard first thing.
Even before SP1, etc.

No warnings about not passing Windows logo testing ( whatever the hell that is), no problems at all, in fact.
I have no idea what the hell was screwing up my installation before, but a fresh XP solved the trouble.

Probably the long way home, but for the software challenged such as I, it all worked out in the end.
Thought you'd like to know...

Yeah, but I still get things poping up here at random times and my sound keeps muting. :angry:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Virtualbody1234@13 April 2004 - 18:22
Yeah, but I still get things poping up here at random times and my sound keeps muting. :angry:

---

:rolleyes: You can take some jokes too far, did you know VB?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Mad Cat+13 April 2004 - 18:39--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Mad Cat @ 13 April 2004 - 18:39)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Virtualbody1234@13 April 2004 - 18:22
Yeah, but I still get things poping up here at random times and my sound keeps muting. :angry:

---

:rolleyes: You can take some jokes too far, did you know VB? [/b][/quote]
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Virtualbody1234@13 April 2004 - 13:22
Yeah, but I still get things poping up here at random times and my sound keeps muting. :angry:

---

haha. i had a problem like that once, it was caused by the keyboard drivers just freezing and it would automatically turn the sound down. it was like teh button was stick in. if i turned it back up manually by going to the little speaker icon in sys tray it would just go right back down again lol. but simply reinstalling the drivers fixed it...

hmm, kinda strange, that you had such a bad experience with MS input devices. i&#39;ve used &#39;em for a few years (mice, keyboard, game controller) and been quite pleased with &#39;em. granted, they&#39;re USB-wired rather than wireless. maybe some people can genuinely sense better accuracy/responsiveness in Logitech products, but from what experience i&#39;ve had with &#39;em, they seem to be essentially on par with each other, imho.

good to hear that you got it sorted out, anyway.

as for Windows logo testing... i think that&#39;s their "certification" program, where authors of device drivers submit them to Microsoft to verify that they work correctly & safely? i&#39;ve never paid any mind to whether or not the drivers i install are certified, though. it&#39;s never really made any difference, either way.

Clocker, as you probably worked out from experience, hardware and drivers are touch and go sometimes. Coulda been anything, a corrupt download etc. I&#39;m glad you sorted it though, and still stand by my claim that Microsoft input devices (easier to spell that periphriarrrls :P) are some of the best going, well made and designed.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC@13 April 2004 - 18:13
as for Windows logo testing... i think that&#39;s their "certification" program, where authors of device drivers submit them to Microsoft to verify that they work correctly & safely? i&#39;ve never paid any mind to whether or not the drivers i install are certified, though. it&#39;s never really made any difference, either way.

---

kinda funny that microsoft didnt certify its own drivers.

Actually, on my second attempt to load the software...after the fresh install, I didn&#39;t get the "Has not passed..." message again.

But the glitches haven&#39;t quite stopped.

Turns out, to make the extra keys and the tilt wheel function, one must allow two programs to load at startup...."Type 32" and "Intellipoint".
Silly me, I had disabled them both with Neotweak XP.

Sorted now though.

After the initial problems are long forgotten I think I&#39;ll really like this setup.
The mouse is absolutely first rate...the smoothness of the scrolling is amazing ( haven&#39;t really had a chance to use the tilt wheel feature yet).

Now that I&#39;ve figured out how to assign the "Favorites" keys, etc., I think it&#39;ll be pretty handy.

They do seem to be rather sensitive to the location of the receiver unit and battery life is still unknown (MS claims "3 Times longer&#33;", but we&#39;ll see.

So, I&#39;ve concluded that the bulk of my trouble stemmed from some sort of hangup in my Windows instalation...can&#39;t imagine what ( I&#39;m now using a completely legal, 100% real MS installation disc...courtesy of my niece in college- &#036;5.20&#33;&#33;&#33; for a XP Pro disc in the student bookstore&#33;), but even so, the Microsoft documentation was/is pathetic. No real troubleshooting info to speak of and the features are poorly described.
I&#39;m not a computer wonk, but even so, I&#39;m smarter than the average bear, and I can&#39;t imagine how someone like my mother could have installed/figured out this product.

wha?? &#036;5.20 for a copy of Windows XP Pro??? fer reals? my college&#39;s bookstore only ever offered maybe half off of the regular retail prices. that&#39;s amazing.

and yeah, if you want all the bells & whistles the MS software offers, it&#39;s a good idea to let it load & run upon startup. otherwise, the drivers will only offer basic, generic mouse/keyboard functions. ;)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC@13 April 2004 - 20:15
wha?? &#036;5.20 for a copy of Windows XP Pro??? fer reals? my college&#39;s bookstore only ever offered maybe half off of the regular retail prices. that&#39;s amazing.

---

Yes indeedy.

University of Iowa in Iowa City.

I figured "What the hey?", for five bucks I&#39;ll go legit....

Mind buying us some copies of Windows XP :blink:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by clocker+13 April 2004 - 23:00--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (clocker @ 13 April 2004 - 23:00)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-3RA1N1AC@13 April 2004 - 20:15
wha??&nbsp; &#036;5.20 for a copy of Windows XP Pro???&nbsp; fer reals?&nbsp; my college&#39;s bookstore only ever offered maybe half off of the regular retail prices.&nbsp; that&#39;s amazing.

---

Yes indeedy.

University of Iowa in Iowa City.

I figured "What the hey?", for five bucks I&#39;ll go legit.... [/b][/quote]
you should buy like, i dunno, 5 copies, and sell them on ebay for like almost the full price. you will bemaking quiet a bit of money :devil:

I&#39;m not sure how these "college" versions of XP work.
There is a message on the package that says it&#39;s illegal to use the OS after you graduate unless you get a different key from the Uni IT dept.

Other folks tell me that there are timers in the OS and it will automatically go belly up in four years from activation ( what a treat to activate over the internet instead of that registry hack thingie&#33;).

Who knows?
Who cares?
Who runs the same OS for four years anyway?

Those real MS discs sure do look purty, what with the holograms and all....

You mean to say you don&#39;t have the corp edition of Windows XP Pro? You should. No activation at all.

For five bucks I can spend the 5 seconds and activate the damn thing.
Made me all warm and fuzzy to know I&#39;m now really legal.