How to Control Multiple PCs With One Mouse and Keyboard

I've got two computers in my office --a desktop that I work at most of the time, and a laptop that I carry to meetings and work at occasionally. If you, too, have a pair of PCs, you know the resulting problems. You have to fiddle with two mice, of course. And getting files back and forth between the PCs is a hassle.

I recently discovered a small utility that solves a slew of multi-PC problems smartly and simply. Mouse with Borders lets you use a single mouse and keyboard to control up to four PCs. And that's not all: It also lets you drag and drop files across those PCs as if they were all a single desktop. You can even lock all of your PCs at once, with a single keyboard shortcut.

Check out the video for details (the second half of the video focuses on the program itself:


Mouse Without Borders comes out of Microsoft's Garage, a company-wide "spare time" development project in which employees write useful apps that generally get incorporated into other products. Mouse Without Borders, though, didn't really fit anywhere else, so it was released on its own.

Getting set up is easy -- just install the small program on each PC that you want to control, and use a security code to connect each of the PCs. The only requirement is that all of the computers be connected to the same network. It's as surprisingly handy program, and a great little freebie from Microsoft.

More on BNET:

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• Review: Microsoft's Arc Touch is Perhaps the Most Portable Mouse Ever
• Gadget Lust: A Secure Wireless Keyboard to Thwart Hackers and Spies

[NJ Dave]

Received installation errors, resolved using the product's support blog.