Resetting PRAM

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I am having mouse/pointer issues on my Mac Mini M4. The pointer is problematic turning into the grabber hand when it should and sometimes I have to click several times before it responds. I thought resetting the PRAM might fix it. For some reason there is no second startup sound after resetting pram on Mac. I have done this many times on my old Mini so I know I am doing this correctly. Any ideas? Maybe that's old school stuff?
 
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The function works differently on the Mx Macs. Basically, the system is reset at each boot, so the need to reset the PRAM is virtually gone.

As for the mouse issue, is this an old mouse you are recycling to the new Mac Mini?
 
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Dogbreath
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I see more and more how much Macs have evolved in 14 years.

It's a new Magic Mouse purchased Nov 9th, 2024.
I think I have figured this out. There is a mouse option to set a secondary click to be a right click. I enabled that. The mouse seems very picky about where to click. It appears some clicks are interpeted as right clicks. I disabled it and now use Control-click as a right click...the old school way. That doesn't explain why the pointer would not turn into the hand grabber readily.
 

Rod


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Honestly you shouldn't have to do that. The Apple Magic Mouse is an expensive, quality product although I personally dislike it. Obviously it should function perfectly with an Apple computer. I don't suppose it's still paired with another active device? That can cause all sorts of issues as I have discovered with other mice (mouses).
 

Slydude

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Honestly you shouldn't have to do that. The Apple Magic Mouse is an expensive, quality product although I personally dislike it. Obviously it should function perfectly with an Apple computer. I don't suppose it's still paired with another active device? That can cause all sorts of issues as I have discovered with other mice (mouses).
You are correct Rod.

I'm using one with an M1 Mac Mini at his very moment. I have right-click as the secondary click function and never use the Control key to activate it.

One thing I have noticed is that it functions reliably if I click at the very right edge of the mouse. As I get closer to the center of the mouse it seems to be less reliable. That's probably a function of me being a little clumsy/not accurate with where I touch the mouse.
 

Rod


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It's one of the reasons I don't like it, also I dislike the scrolling function but I have had limited exposure to them and I suppose I would get used to it in time. The big factor for me is the price, I just can't justify paying top dollar for a mouse I have to get used to.😊. In Australia the Magic Mouse (USB-C) is AU$119.00, my current Logitech M240 cost AU$32.00.
 
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I see more and more how much Macs have evolved in 14 years.

It's a new Magic Mouse purchased Nov 9th, 2024.
I think I have figured this out. There is a mouse option to set a secondary click to be a right click. I enabled that. The mouse seems very picky about where to click. It appears some clicks are interpeted as right clicks. I disabled it and now use Control-click as a right click...the old school way. That doesn't explain why the pointer would not turn into the hand grabber readily.
I have the MM and I agree that the right-click is very sensitive to where you put your finger on the mouse. And it did take some time to get used to it as a "trackpad" on the mouse as well, but now I use that feature all the time.

The hand grabber really depends on where you put the mouse cursor. The only part of the arrow that is used to make the icon switch is the tip of the arrowhead. So you have to get the very tip of the arrowhead on the "clickable" area before it switches. Another learning curve for that. BTW, that is NOT a mouse function, but just how the user interface is designed.
 

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The right-click is pretty reliable. On most mice I can use the center divide between the buttons as a sort of index to tell me I'm in the right place. You can't do that with the Magic Mouse because it doesn't have that line.

There is one function that I turned off and haven't turned back on. For a short time I tried feature where double tapping a finger on the mouse magnifies what you are looking at. I like the feature but found that I was accidentally triggering it too often for my taste.

The biggest complaint I have about the Magic Mouse is the location of the charging port. If I let the battery run down I can't use the mouse while it's charging. I can use most BT keyboards while they are being charged.
 

Rod


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I just came across a setting on my MBP I did not know was on which may or may not effect some users called Universal Control.

Screenshot 2024-12-08 at 10.46.22.png

This setting turned out to be a problem for a friend of mine when her iPad was on the desk and open next to her MBA. Turning it off solved the issue. Here is the Apple page on the topic. Use a keyboard and mouse or trackpad to control Mac and iPad
 
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It's one of the reasons I don't like it, also I dislike the scrolling function but I have had limited exposure to them and I suppose I would get used to it in time. The big factor for me is the price, I just can't justify paying top dollar for a mouse I have to get used to.😊. In Australia the Magic Mouse (USB-C) is AU$119.00, my current Logitech M240 cost AU$32.00.

[TL/DR]
I don't think that I've ever met an Apple mouse that I really liked. They have always been either an unfortunate shape, or too ambitiously "advanced", or they were unreliable.

When I was doing consulting I got fed up with how many people had BlueTooth problems. It's an expensive and unreliable technology.

After trying a bunch of brands of mouse, I've settled on Logitech mice. They work really well, they are reasonably priced, they last for many years, and they are well supported. I like their RF (wireless) mice, rather than their Bluetooth mice, as they are dead reliable. They do require that you use a USB port for the tiny dongle, but it's worth it.

I specifically like this model. It's dirt cheap, goes for over a year on one common alkaline AA battery, and it works and feels great. Every button works wonderfully, the scroll wheel is highly functional. It fit's in my hand perfectly. (Of course, how a mouse fits in your hand is highly personal.)

Logitech M310
$20
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-mouse-M310?crid=7
(These things can often be found on sale at places like Walmart and Best Buy for as little as $10. I usually buy a bunch of them at a time for my entire office and for spares.)

Oh...one other thing about Logitech mice..Logitech offers free downloadable software to fine tune them to meet all of your desires! I used to use USB Overdrive to do this with Apple mice, but Logitech just throws their software in as a free extra! (I love being able to designate the scroll wheel as a button to quickly advance through pages in a document or on the Web. And I like being able to speed my mouse up even more than the Mac OS allows.)
 
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Just to but in on the mouse front, I have the Logitech M350, £19.00 on Amazon (UK), and I am very pleased with its battery power remaining (in the bluetooth menu) is not accurate.
 

Rod


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10 out of 10 for Logi 👍🏼
 
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I like my Magic Mouse, but it's only really good when paired with the app Better Touch Tool - there's lots in that, but my main two additions are that a single tap top left takes me to the top of any page (Home if my kb had such a thing), and a double tap takes me to the bottom of a page. It's like my mouse now has buttons.
 

IWT


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The biggest complaint I have about the Magic Mouse is the location of the charging port.

Oh yes. I agree. It's a real pain. Whoever thought up such an inconvenient way of charging a Mouse?

Ian
 
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IWT...the same person that put the power button on the bottom of the new MM and the 3.5mm headphone jack (which I use for Adams A5X speakers) on the front.
 

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Oh yes. I agree. It's a real pain. Whoever thought up such an inconvenient way of charging a Mouse?

Ian
Where is it?🤔
 

Slydude

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