The Good: Easy to use, Light helps makes functioning ability clear.
The Bad: Without adapter, uses up a USB port, Still seems pricy to me.
The Basics: A very basic optical mouse, the Microsoft D66-00066 Optical Mouse holds up for years!
When it comes to computers, I am two things other than generally cheap. The first is a layperson: I will never attempt to pass myself off as a computer expert as there are techies who can run laps around me with numbers and symbols I have never seen. The other thing I am is generally old fashioned. I'm not wild about touchpads and I find trying to highlight things and click in weird ways using a touchpad to be a real pain in my butt. So, when I've been allowed to use my brother's ACER Aspire Laptop I have frequently hooked up my computer's mouse to it.
My mouse is a very basic Microsoft D66-00066 Optical Mouse. This is a step up from classic mice which have a ball in them and the optical mice seem to be the basic product on the market as far as mice go these days. The Microsoft D66-00066 Optical Mouse is a USB mouse with a four foot cable and I purchased mine four years ago when my last mouse with a physical ball gave out. With five years of use with my D66-00066 Optical Mouse, I would have to say I am very happy with it.
The D66-00066 Optical Mouse is a basic mouse intended for use on computers using a Microsoft (Windows or XP) platform. I am not sure what is different about the configuration of the Microsoft style mouse, especially as it works on all Microsoft Plug-and-Play platforms, but I know that this mouse does not work when I try plugging it into my MacBook Pro. My home PC runs on Windows 98 and the new ACER runs on Windows 7, so despite the fact that it is not listed in the specs for this mouse, it does work on the Windows 7 platform.
The Microsoft D66-00066 Optical Mouse is 4 ¾ long by 2 ¼” wide and about 1” tall. It has a curved top, like most mice, so it fits in the hand nicely. Also, as a left-handed person, the Microsoft D66-00066 Optical Mouse is nice because it is not contoured on its sides in any way, so it is intended for ambidextrous use. The D66-00066 Optical Mouse has a four foot cable which plugs into a USB port. Because my PC only has two USB ports, I have gotten an adapter which allows me to plug the optical mouse right into my mouse port (a round, pinned port specific to old mice).
Like all optical mice, the Microsoft D66-00066 Optical Mouse glides along the surface of the desk or wherever one has their PC because of three non-stick pads on the bottom of the mouse. There is one in the back and two in the front and these help move the mouse effortlessly along the smooth surface of my desk, not making a mousepad (which, as it might have been forgotten given the stylish aspects of them, were originally needed with mice for the friction they provided to the physical ball within the mouse) necessary at all.
The D66-00066 Optical Mouse is called an optical mouse because where there used to be a ball on the underside of the mouse, there is now a simple hole with a light emitting diode in it. When the mouse is properly plugged in and working (whenever the power on the PC is on), the diode glows red and tracks movement to allow the cursor on one's screen to move about. The nice thing about the D66-00066 Optical Mouse it that whenever there is a problem with the functionality of the mouse, the aft top section of the mouse, which usually glows red, turns off. This makes it simple to see right away if the mouse is working!
Like most mice, the D66-00066 Optical Mouse features two physical buttons at the top of the mouse. The left one is usually used to click and highlight, while the right one is used to access menus – this is something that is configured in the software in Windows, not ingrained into the mouse itself.
The D66-00066 Optical Mouse also features a small scroll wheel between the two physical buttons. In most Windows-based programs, the scroll wheel allows one easy access to moving up and down on pages, as it is designed to serve only that function. This has worked fine on my computer, save on programs that are not written by Microsoft (so, for example, while navigating my ancient PFS Windowworks documents, I have to either use the Page Up/Down keys or move the mouse to the right side of the screen and use the up/down bar there.
But for most users, the Microsoft D66-00066 Optical Mouse is likely to be all the mouse they will need for their PC!
For other computer equipment, please check out my reviews of:
Apple 64 GB iPad
ATP Specio Flash Drive
HP LaserJet 6P Printer
9/10
For other computer product reviews, click here to go to the index page!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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