If you want to use the side-to-side scrolling feature on the G5 or the G7, you need to install Logitech's latest driver sofware, SetPoint. SetPoint replaces the MouseWare line of driver software, and is a bit improved, though just as intrusive. I'll get to that in a minute. The installation process was painless & simple, though a bit drawn out. There are nine full screens for the install, which you can see below.

As you can see above, I did not enable the desktop manager. The software will also install MusicMatch Jukebox unless you explicitly tell it not to. You can also see that I didn't tell either application that it should start up on restart. After installing, but before restarting, I decided to see exactly what changes the software had made in the registry, & not surprisingly, it'd created an entry in the start up section (you can see exactly where in the image below). The entry was for the "Logitech Hardware Abstraction Layer," which I assumed was to enable the side-to-side scrolling. I restarted my PC, & sure enough, the process, named "KHALMNPR.exe," was running, & taking up nearly 3.5MB of system memory.

Once SetPoint is installed, it also puts a shortcut in your "Startup" folder in the Start menu for itself. As a result of this shortcut, you'll get an icon in your task bar for the software, which, when clicked, presents you with links to the settings, a quick tour, & the Logitech help center.

Now maybe it's just me, but doesn't all this seem a bit overkill just to use the side-scrolling? I killed the HAL process, & just as I suspected, I couldn't use the side-scroll anymore. Well, it's Logitech, so I expected as much, & it really didn't take up that much RAM, so I can't complain. Never crashed, either. Getting back to the software... there are a total of four headings on the main page: Mouse configuration, Pointers, Games, & Tools.

Mouse configuration is just that: the software auto-detects your mouse, & brings up the appropriate button configurations. You can then decide what each button does; I left mine at the default. The Pointers tab deals with pointer speed, acceleration, & lines per scroll. On the Tools tab, you'll find links for the help center, the quick tour, ergonomic guidelines, & the Logitech support site. The final bit of useful info on the Tools tab is the version number of the software. As you can see, 2.42.257 shipped with the CD in the box. A newer version, 2.47, is available from Logitech's website. Last but not least, the games tab allows you to customize your buttons with game profiles. You can decide to let SetPoint choose which configurations to keep when switching to a game profile, & whether or not you want SetPoint to auto-detect games.

When you click the "Advanced Settings" button on the Games tab, you get a separate screen that lets you actually change the DPI levels that you switch between when using the adjustment buttons on the mouse. Very cool feature; if you're not happy with the default DPI settings, simply change 'em. You can also un-link the X & Y axis resolutions, so you can have totally different sensitivities on both the X & Y axes. The advanced screen also shows which games on your PC have been detected by SetPoint, & allows you to manually add or remove games from the list.