If you haven’t noticed, we can only set a global pointer speed at Control Panel which takes effect on all devices that controls the pointer. I’ve just stumbled upon an interesting software called AutoSensitivity where it allows you to have different mouse sensitivity for touchpad and external mouse. Normally we have much better control over the pointer when using a mouse so we can set the sensitivity a little higher but when it comes to the touchpad, we will need to decrease the sensitivity or else you will find that it is hard to control the pointer.
AutoSensitivity is an open source program that works on Windows XP, Vista and 7 but requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or 4.0 to run. This program uses ClickOnce technology for installation which is why you may notice that the installation procedure is a bit different when compared to normal setup.
First you download the 2KB AutoSensitivity.application file and upon running, it will download the remaining files and save them in AppData folder (not program files). Then it creates a shortcut at desktop named AutoSensitivity.appref-ms and do take note that the file extension will not show. Checking the shortcut property will not reveal where AutoSensitivity is installed. The solution to locate where AutoSensitivity is installed is pretty easy with Windows Task Manager. Run AutoSensitivity shortcut from desktop and then press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch Task Manager. Go to the Processes tab, right click on AutoSensitivity.exe and select Open File Location.
AutoSensitivity is installed deep into my hard drive which is at the following location:
C:\Users\Raymond\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\0OVCY1HA.9VW\Q7V7M6ZX.RB1\auto..tion_0000000000000000_0001.0004_01f6395047dd6f8b
If you want to run it on other computer without going through the installation, then simply copy the folder to the other computer and run AutoSensitivity.exe. Now let’s see how the program works.
Although AutoSensitivity’s user interface looks like a no-brainer, but it can get quite confusing and it is better to first understand how it works before using it. Basically AutoSensitivity monitors for any touchpad and mouse connected on your computer. The bottom left of the program will update automatically when it detects if you’ve plugged or unplugged a mouse. When a mouse is connected, AutoSensitivity will automatically set the pointer speed according to the Mouse speed that is set on the program. The touchpad speed will also follow the pointer speed of the mouse because Windows can only support one pointer speed setting. That is why when you click the Get Current button on both Touchpad and Mouse, it shows the same level of sensitivity. When you unplug the mouse, AutoSensitivity will detect that the mouse is not present and then automatically sets the pointer speed according to the Touchpad sensitivity level.
While testing AutoSensitivity, there are a couple of times that it didn’t work and the sensitivity speed remained the same. I tried running AutoSensitivity as administrator thinking that it may require higher privileges since it writes to registry but that didn’t help. In fact there were a few people reporting the same problem in AutoSensitivity discussion forum so I guess it is still not really that stable. AutoSensitivity is a unique application that is worth keeping track of.
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