Microsoft Mouse Without Borders

Mouse Without Borders is a free utility developed by Microsoft's Garage project, an in-company program designed to encourage employees to develop projects they've cultivated during off-hours. And while most of these projects don't make it to the public or just come bundled as a part of a larger project, Mouse Without Borders stands as an outlier.

Through this program, up to four computers can be synced into one, creating an environment where you can navigate, type, and share files easily from one PC to another.

It's available as a Microsoft Download Center 1.1MB. The setup is fairly simple: when first downloading the program, Mouse Without Borders will ask if you've already installed the utility software onto another PC, giving the option to answer "Yes" or "No."

It will then give you a security code to enter when you download the software on to the remaining PCs you want synced. You will have to make sure the computers are on the same local network. Microsoft suggests users utilize a wired Ethernet connection rather than connect over a local Wi-Fi network, as the former is generally considered more reliable. However, I was able to connect over PCMag Lab's wireless with little issue.

You'll have the ability to lock and unlock the synced PCs. Simply check or uncheck the linked laptops and/or desktops. Within the software there's also an "Other Options" tab that allows you to customize certain details, like commands to switch between machines and lock the machine.

I found Mouse Without Borders to be extremely helpful in my day-to-day office duties, as I usually have to multitask between testing multiple laptops and writing up reviews and news stories in between testing. This utility cut the time I spent moving between testing laptops and my own work laptop in half. I was even able to drag and drop files from one computer to another without interruption. However, Mouse Without Borders is not without its flaws. When I hopped on for a game of Portal 2 on a neighboring laptop, the mouse sensitivity had turned up to an unplayable level; I could hardly move the mouse without making my cursor fly across the screen. Also, when I paused the game and moved back to my "primary" computer, I found I couldn't move my windows—basically, my computer acted as if it was frozen while the game was still up.

Mouse Without Borders is a Windows-only utility, so Mac users will have to stick with Teleport and multi-platform users will have to stick with Synergy to support their mousing needs.

By: pcmag