In FireFox (and Internet Explorer 7 as well), you can open a link in a new tab by clicking on it with the scroll wheel. Similarly, you can close an open tab by scroll-wheel clicking it. (Push straight down on the scroll wheel rather than rolling it; it functions like a middle, or third, mouse button.) This is very nifty, and I use it all the time.
I recently discovered that middle-clicking was broken in Firefox 2 on the our Windows Vista box. We use a Logitech bluetooth mouse with this machine. It turns out that the problem is with Logitech’s SetPoint mouse software. Fortunately, it is a simple misconfiguration that is easy to fix.
First, you need to get to Logitech’s SetPoint control panel. This should be accessible through your Mouse control panel. (In the Control Panel, make sure you’re in Classic View.)
Click the SetPoint Settings tab. This will close the Mouse control panel, and open the SetPoint software. Under Select Button, click on the entry labeled 3. It will probably be set to “AutoScroll”. That’s the problem.
Now, under Select Task, click Other. In the Select Task dialog that appears, choose Middle Button. Then, OK to dismiss the dialog. Back in the SetPoint program, click Apply to apply the settings change, then OK to close SetPoint.
Clicking with the scroll wheel should now behave properly.
Tags: Logitech, misfeature, SetPoint, software, windows vista