IntelliMouse Optical by Microsoft

Microsoft's IntelliMouse Optical is a smooth, ambidextrous operator that looks great in the dark. Its curvaceous contours are literally highlighted by the red light which it uses to track movement.

Optical mice have a key advantage over their humble mechanical cousins. They don't need cleaning. They don't have little rubber balls to continually collect dirt and fluff and degrade their own function. So they run smoothly all the time.

The IntelliMouse is no exception and you can use it straight on your desk. It doesn't require a mouse mat. In fact it will work on any surface except for highly uniform or reflective materials such as glass. If you don't have a glass desk, you are OK.

It comes with a USB connector, but also a little PS/2 adaptor (round six-pin) so you can use it on older machines. Like all IntelliMice it has the traditional pair of buttons separated by a scroll wheel. The wheel makes browsing through web pages and other documents a little easier and also functions as a third button.

There are yet two more buttons at the sides which are used to go back and forward between web pages. At first, you tend to press these accidentally as you hold the mouse. However they soon prove very useful when surfing and enable you to dispense with the button bar on your browser. This frees up more of your screen to display the web page.

You can change the function of any of the five buttons using the software provided. For example the extra side buttons can be set to copy and paste or page up and page down. The software also contains a "Healthy Computing Guide" encouraging you to take regular breaks from your work and eat fruit.

The mouse is symmetrical in design and it's pretty comfortable in either hand. However mouse shape is very much a personal thing and it's best to try before you buy. We could find no fault with the IntelliMouse Optical.