Several weeks ago I commented about wireless mice. Since then I have received a surprising number of emails with regards to mice. The major one seems to be that some people think the blue light laser mice work great on glass and an equal number say they do not. Since I do not have one I cannot toss in my two cents worth. All of you “blue lighters” out there need to keep me posted.
Several others asked me if there is even a need for mouse pads today. I have a couple of different answers for you.
If you have a mouse with a large gray ball on the bottom I would say, “yes, definitely”. The mouse pad will help the tracking ball on the mouse work much smoother. It also makes it easier to keep that area of your desk clear of junk. You know like water drops, papers and other things that get in the way of your mouse. It is also easy to clean the pad if it does get dirty.
If you have an optical mouse, either wired or wireless the need is not as great. I have wireless mice, as you read about in that previous column. I always use a mouse pad for my desktop computers. I think it is psychological but it keeps that area of the desks clutter-free. However, with my portables I do not use a mouse pad. I do not feel like carrying around something else in my already overloaded backpack. I think it would be goofy to pull out my little mouse pad and lay it on the table a Panera’s.
Now, after all this talk about mouse pads I have to get you to take a look at a very interesting site that I found this week. I was at a friend’s place of business writing a column. I asked if he had a mouse pad that I could borrow since his table was glass and mine would not function. He brought me his that was an (in my opinion) exact duplicate of an oriental rug that my mother used to have…but it was a mouse pad. With the fringe and all?! 
I flipped it over and on the back it had the URL where you may purchase them online at Mouserug.com. The Mouserug site has a large number of mouse pads that look great. The one that I am going to purchase is the “The Claire Murray Liberty Mouse Rug”. I may put it off for a while as the price is a little higher than I like for a mouse pad, a little less than $20.
By-the-way, I had an article published on the Microsoft.com site last week. Please go take a read and let me know what you think.