Has your son ever tried these mice? They are terrific, espeically the side buttons, flipping back through websites is nothing for me. My scroll bar is so fast even at 800 DPI...its unubelievable...and when I forget to put it in the charger...do I ever hate using the corded mouse until it recharges...everthing is just so easy even for mundane everyday web-browsing. As far as the dents in the MX518...that's where your fingers go and it allows a plyable left and right clicking, its like a mylar type of thing...he doesn't want any dents or lights? Low battery indicator is out? I wish that other MX1000 owner was still here...I've never make a mistake with the side buttons. In the beginning, I hit them a few times by mistake...its called learning, but not once in the last year and a half. Every time my cousin comes over here to play a game, and I tell him to left click ...he always clicks the wheel...he keeps looking for lines to tell him where right and left are. Then he gets used to the idea there are no visible left or right clicking lines, its the entire left or entire right side of the mouse whereever your fingers are comfortable. As far as the lights...they are LED lights and barely noticeable. That one poster said on the MX610 you can turn off the mail indicator ... they are like pinpricks of light...I forget to look at my battery indicators They are not that visible.. The Diamondback Plasma they are more visible...its an art thing and because they are LED they don't use much, if any, extra electricity. Why is your son insisting on archaic mice? Have you watched the little movie presentation? On the link below click on "Product Tour". You can turn features on or off with the software. The hardest thing to get used to is the size. They are larger, they require a bigger mouse pad, and lasers do better on flat light colored surfaces...but lasers will track fairly accurately on any surface. Are they ever sensitive to the slightest movement...but you get used to it...real quick. Instead of wide swings its a flick of your wrist. And believe it or not you even get used to holding the mouse without ever touching the buttons. The only drawback is the 2.4Ghz frequency and wireless routing...the one poster said even with that there was no interference with the mouse's performance...If you don't have a wireless router ...it might be a blast to learn with. New Technology. marf Here is a link that might be useful: MX610 Product Page

If you had only 2 USB ports, was your other Keyboard plugged into one, or do you have 2USB's and 2 PS2's for hook ups? If you only have 2 USB's and no PS2's then by all means pick a USB HUB and that will add the extra ports that you need. To find a USB 2.0 hub with A/C plugin they might have them at Office Max and Staples and all over, probably even Target. I assumed that when you stated the new keyboard had a USB connection and both were in use...that therefore the older keyboard was connected by a PS2 connection (because if the older keyboard had been disconnected from one of the two USB ports... one would be available). Or did I presume too much...again? Below is a nice example of an electrical plugin/usb plug in at Amazon. Although I can't figure out what those four pegs stuck on top of the box are supposed to be on the picture from a owner. Some hubs just plug into your computer and thereby draw extra electrical energy through it. The better ones plug into your computer but come also with an A/C plug to get the energy needed to run out of a wall socket, instead of drawing the extra through your computer. Just as TomH had suggested. The boys from along time ago made the same suggestion to me with my notebook and they are right. Its looks like Bob14 found your two hidden USB ports! None-the less you will probably want a hub sooner or later anyway. Between speakers, mice, keyboards, printers, external hard drives...and OHYEAH Game Pads!...they fill up fairly quickly. Bob14 a nice guy. He's fun too. marf Here is a link that might be useful: D Link AC plugged 2.0 USB Hub

found this info on other forums about a Dell latitude I will list all of the various ways that I saw; you can go to Control Panel > Mouse and select the Dell Touchpad tab. There should be a Device Select icon which will give you the option to turn off the touchpad and/or touchpad buttons. Alternatively, for those who want to turn off the pointing stick and/or pointing stick buttons, there are also options to disable or enable those. *Start-->Settings--Control Panel double-click mouse and there's an option there to disable the touchpad *"For all of you having trouble enabling or disabling the touchpad: Turn on or off the Fast Initialization button under hardware properties for the Touchpad. Fast Initialization = On, then reboot, you are now able to turn the touchpad On or Off from Mouse Properties Hope this helps, it was a PITA to figure out." *Just go to control pannel and double click on 'mouse'. There should then be a tab called 'Touch pad' and click on that. There should then be an option 'Tap off when typing' enable that and your problem should be solved. It also said that if you do not find those options there then it is possible your touchpad drivers are not installed which would allow you to make the changes. "If the control panel only shows things about a "mouse", the touchpad drivers are not installed. You could try www.synaptics.com for drivers." found this on the dell site *Customizing the Touch Pad and Track Stick You can use the Mouse Properties window to disable the touch pad and track stick or adjust their settings. Open the Control Panel, and then click Mouse. For information about the Control Panel, see Windows Help and Support Center. In the Mouse Properties window: * Click the Device Select tab to disable the touch pad and track stick. * Click the Touch Pad tab to adjust touch pad and track stick settings. Click OK to save the settings and close the window. I hope out of those maybe something will work

Short of high-end gaming mice, there really isn't much off a difference in terms of performance for the average user. I'd stick with Logitech or Microsoft and, as with most things, avoid buying the cheapest model(s). Beyond that, pick the one that feels most comfortable in your hand. You'll likely need a free USB port, although some mice do come with a USB to PS/2 adaptor (PS/2 is the little round plug). Read the package for details. Frankly, I'd skip installing whatever software the manufacturer supplies, usually it adds a bunch of "features" few use and Windows usually can recognize a mouse without any additional software. Turn off your computer, unplug the old mouse, then plug in the new mouse. If you go with a cordless model, don't forget install the batteries. :-) You may need to "sync" the mouse with the base, usually by pressing a small button on the bottom of the mouse.