BasicMouse & BasicBrowser Kiosk Software 6.14

Overview

BasicMouse and BasicBrowser is a software that essentially includes two programs: BasicMouse, which allows you to disable the right-click function from your mouse or disable specific keyboard buttons, and BasicBrowser, a browser with restricted functionality which stops users from visiting unwanted websites. Both of these programs are suitable for young children or people with learning disabilities as well as users who want to restrict the mouse and keyboard functions, on public computers for instance.

Installation

Installation is a little slow to finish but it doesn’t take a significant amount of time though. When it’s done an introduction window with some key features of the program will come up, along with some helpful tips and supportive information. No other operating systems than Windows are supported.

Interface

All of the options and settings are contained in one big window that you cannot resize, even though it takes up a lot of space in your screen. From there you can start BasicMouse or BasicBrowser and make all the settings for each. In the toolbar you will find some main features, like the adjust resolution button from where you can quickly adjust the resolution of your screen or the button that allows you to change the logo that appears in the bottom right corner of the window. You also have the ability to change the mouse cursor or set a mouse click area. If you go to the keyboard tab you will see a map of your keyboard and easily configure which buttons you want disabled, and do the same for the number keyboard and special keys in the last tab.

Pros

It’s very easy and simple to set up. When you’re finished you only have to click the start button to activate it, then it will run in the background without interrupting you. There are shortcut keys which allow you to exit or reconfigure it, a feature that you can disable, and if you want to prevent unauthorized exits you can choose an exit password.

In BasicBrowser’s settings you can add the allowed websites that someone can visit, excluding all others from being entered in the browser’s address bar. It’s a very useful feature to keep the users from visiting dangerous and unwanted webpages.

Cons

The main settings window could be improved to allow different sizes to it as right now it opens up to full screen only and re-scales only to a fixed size when dragged. Moreover, we found quite a few bugs on our test; for instance the change resolution option doesn’t always work, similarly to the restart option which only exits the program.

Alternatives

Sobolsoft's Disable Keyboard Buttons and Mouse Clicks software provides similar functionality and it's worth looking into. For expert users, disabling the right click function can also be done manually by editing the registry yourself. An alternative just for the BasicBrowser component is K9 Web Protection, a filtering solution that allows you to control the internet content that is being received in your computer so that surfing the web is safe for all the family.

Conclusion

BasicMouse and BasicBrowser is a software that will definitely help if you want to make the process of learning how to use a computer easier for some persons, or if you just want to protect public computers. With a few more improvements it would be an ideal program for these purposes, although it's not a bad choice in its present state either, if you can overlook the small annoyances.