SideTrack 0.7 (Freeware)
Raging Menace

Hard to believe that it was nearly 10 years ago that Apple introduced their first PowerBook that, instead of a little ball, used a trackpad for positioning the cursor. Like many Apple innovations, the PC manufacturers eventually adopted the trackpad instead of a trackball, and have even gone beyond Apple in terms of trackpad functionality. The good news is that you can add extra functionality to your PowerBook's trackpad, thanks to SideTrack...

SideTrack is a Preference Pane that is made available through the standard System Preferences mechanism, but offers features far beyond the one's included in Apple's Mouse preferences. The only enhanced features offered by Apple's implementation are the ability to use the trackpad for clicking and dragging. Even in this respect, SideTrack goes beyond. You can choose to have the trackpad button and trackpad tap emulate either the left or right mouse button.

SideTrack Offers Many More Options
(click for a larger version)

The one feature that really sets SideTrack apart for the standard offering is the ability to use the trackpad for not only cursor positioning and button clicking, but also scrolling. It does this by letting you select a portion of the trackpad, either the top or bottom for horizontal scrolling, or the left or right for vertical scrolling. You can set the scroll speed, and independently set the vertical and horizontal scrolling area sizes. Once you get used to using your trackpad for scrolling, you can really zoom through some tasks, without ever having to touch the keyboard!

So take full control of your trackpad, and give SideTrack a spin today!

Have any other Gadgets that let you take control? Send an e-mail to John, and he'll dig it.