Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 (PC & Mac)

Every one of Microsoft's keyboards (wired and wireless) has an issue after 3 months, tops, with keys sticking. I do not "pound" keys, by the way. I work part-time & have had 10 or more of these duds, wired/wireless, all with keys sticking 1-3 months later. If I could find a similar keyboard from another brand, trust me, I wouldn't settle for this. When I called the warranty number, the rep was all but laughing because I thought the sticking keys would be covered. She was practically rolling on the floor after I told her how often I used it. She was never going to help me at all, but still she interrogated me at length, made thorough notes in her computer in case I called again, and wasted plenty of my time being rude. She told me that these keyboards are not for WORK use, nor are they for every day use, that the "warranty" does not replace keyboards that suddenly start sticking after a month or so of any type of use. She assured me it was my fault it wore out so rapidly anyhow. Nice to know. Do not buy an extended warranty thinking it will help you around this either, because it won't begin until 2 YEARS after original date of purchase. Logitech is a great alternative if you can find it, even with cords, but most of my local stores don't carry it.

I am disappointed that the mouse and keyboard must be located with 2-4 feet of the USB connection to work. I had planned on using them at a distance of about 10 feet.

Worked for two days. Just long enough for me to discard packaging. Now stuck with worthless pieces of plastic. Save your money.

Unfortunately I hadn't seen the other reviews before I purchased this. Microsoft should be ashamed its name is on this product, but it's one more reason I'm thinking of switching to Apple when my PC needs to be replaced and/or rather than converting to Windows 7, and not just for the PC, but mobile phones, etc. As others have noted, the mouse is awful. It often doesn't respond to scrolling (even after I modify the various settings, which aren't easy to find, by the way). Worse, when trying to scroll it sometimes brings onto my screen all my open windows, so I have to be especially careful with the generally nonresponsive scrolling. The wireless keyboard is nicely laid out BUT within two days I started getting warning messages that the signal from the keyboard was low. So I changed the batteries (even though the ones in the box had a 2014 expiration date and had been used for less than four hours total) and I put the wireless receptor right next to the keyboard. All seemed fine for a day, and now I get the same stupid warning again that the signal is low. And here's the ironic part: the on-line suggestion for fixing this is to replace the keyboard with a wired keyboard. Go figure. One final note: no where in the instructions in the box, and no where after doing endless Google searches, is there information on something this basic: where's the battery compartment on the mouse? I'm pretty good at this stuff but didn't want to pull too hard on one or two points that seemed likely. I finally just tugged at three separate "slots," and sure enough, one finally opened to reveal the battery compartment. You'd think the manufacturer, which includes a few drawings in the box as their total excuse for instructions, might at least have shown this basic startup feature, but nope. Not Microsoft.

This wireless keyboard/mouse is the bane of my existence. I expect to die at an early age from stress caused solely by this terrible product. Fool that I am, I bought two of them, one for work and one for my home computer, so this evil device torments me day and night. Neither unit works correctly, especially the mouse. The promised range is a joke. If the mouse or the keyboard is more than nine inches from the receiver, it will barely function. If the mouse should stray 12-15 inches from the receiver, I have to click over and over to get one successful click. Occasionally the keyboard just doesn't work at all. I'll click on a text box, get a blinking cursor, start typing, and nothing happens. Replace the batteries daily if you like, the range will still suck.

Rarely have I been more disappointed with a product than this one. The only good thing I can say for it is that it can take a hellacious beating and keep functioning (or not) at exactly the same level as the cursed day I removed it from the box. The mouse frequently drives me to such extremes of rage that I will pound it on my wood desktop over and over, but it just... refuses... to break. It isn't a mouse, but a tangible demon sent from the blackest bowels of hell to torment me for my sins. I also routinely beat the keyboard with my fist or other blunt objects, and the only visible result is that a tiny piece of the casing broke off. I circled the glorious day of that miniscule victory on my calendar and will celebrate it annually until I die too young from the torment of using this product. Since it worked poorly from the first day, it is impossible to determine if these frequent beatings have diminished its performance, but at least it's tough.

If you must purchase this item, give it to somebody you loathe, but only if you are a true sociopath. Anybody with the tiniest glimmer of a conscience would be tormented with guilt for visiting this horrible product on another living soul. I don't know if other wireless units are better than this one, but there is no way they could possibly be worse.

I bought this because it was cheap. I wanted to sit on my couch 8 ft away and surf the internet on my TV. I know it states 6ft, but I was being an optimistic cheapskate. The mouse handles the distance well, but the keyboard has to be practically "jam up against" the receiver to work (within a foot or so, and on the same level). So I guess that is "almost" wireless. I have to get my lazy self off the couch, and kneel on the floor to use the keyboard. Going to get a 2.4 gHz set up now (a cheaper one of course) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RV01LI/ref=oss_product. We'll see.

Pros:
~>If you are on a budget and just looking for something quick and simple, then this is for you.

Cons:
~>If you are using for gaming purpose or large coorporate conference room purpose, find something else.

Software Installation:
1) For Keyboard and Mouse driver installation, it is very slow. (No its not my computer)
2) For software setup, the selection of driver wording is poor and can be confusing for beginners

Hardware
1) The USB Wireless Hub is not like a USB stick driver. Its a hub with a very long USB extention
2) Poor Mouse connectivity, It will skip unless mouse is close to USB Wireless Hub.
3) Typing very fast causes missing letters.
*I have found out that placing the USB Wireless Hub close to the keyboard and mouse reduces these problems, but whats the point having a wireless when the hub is closer to the keyboard and mouse.... sigh....

Good basic wireless keyboard/mouse combo. Nice additional hot keys. Great price. Shipped fast and in great shape.

Very good product from Micrsoft. It was as advertised and was delivered on time.

I received everything that was listed included batteries. Thanks for communicating with me earlier about the product.

It is a good product, very cheap and though it does not eliminated cable, which is wireless purpose, it reduces them.

We got this product to use on our computer that is hooked up to a television screen. It works well but has only about a 6ft range. That was disappointing because it doesn't reach across our living room, and the fact we have to sit really close to the screen. But if you are using it at a desk right by your screen, then its perfect.

They were delivered very quickly, they were easy to setup, and my whole family loves them.

I bought this set for my desktop, which is currently hooked up to my flat panel tv. It works awesome. I definatley recommend it.

when i bought this product a few years ago it worked really good,. Then my mouse died lastnight, bought a new Microsoft Wireless Notebook Mouse 3000 didnt even have to use the Notebook Mouse Receiver that came with the Product

This may be why Desktop Receiver Version 2.1 and the Mouse Receiver is 2.0, so my desktop Receiver is newer then my notebook mouse one so this is why it works without it..

It got here on time, setup was very easy, and it works great. I would highly recommend this product

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 (PC & Mac)

I purchased the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 keyboard with mouse from BuyDirect Corporation and after one month, it stopped working and because I could not convert my Net-book back to using the regular mouse system, I had to totally reinstall the operating system. The company made getting a return coupon number a hassle, so I ended up not getting it returned. My suggestion is that if the company wants to improve their customer satisfaction rating on Amazon that they should seek to make the return of defective products hassle free e.g. simply send a free return mail coupon upon email notification of the purchase of a defect product.

I bought this product and I am having tough times
1) Mouse skips scrolling
2) USB port acts weird, when this stuff is connected and I try connecting any other USB device it freezes the other ports and itself and the only fix would be to reboot the maching.

I wouldn't recommend buying this model.

Well I've had this keyboard and muse for about 1 hour. Everything works fine but its to early to tell. My Biggest Complaint is the mouse range is about 3-4" and not 6' as advertised. Since my Computer is hooked up to my LCD TV I bought this product to I can lean back in bed and use my keyboard and mouse while on the PC. Well Couldn't lean back because it is 5 1/2' away from the mouse/keyboard receiver which was positioned next to my TV, so I moved the wireless receiver closer to me in order for me to be able to lean back in comfort on my bed while on the PC. for now I have the receiver taped to my wall. I don't know I might have to get its own stand or something since it doesn't work 6' away as advertised and since I cannot keep it in a nice discreet spot next to the TV. I might have more complaints after a few days of full usage, who knows.

I like this keyboard and mouse set. I recently had to replace my last wireless mouse & keyboard and wanted the exact same thing; this was as close as I could get. The price is GREAT!! (This is HALF of what Microsoft charges on their website for the exact same product.) My problem is the new keyboard isn't 100% functional. The volume controls don't work, and I've tried everything! I found the software for this exact model of wireless keyboard & mouse (the MS Wireless Optical Desktop 1000) drivers are NOT on the CD included, so I downloaded those directly from the Microsoft website; installed them and no success. The volume controls still don't work. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers and restarted my computer so many times I lost count. I used only new batteries, not the ones that came in the box. Nothing seems to fix this problem, so I have determined it is a hardware problem. Is this a deal breaker? No, but it would be nice to have a fully functional product. For the low price (because it was made overseas) I can live with it. Life is about sacrifices...

For the money, this is a good deal. The only thing I would have changed was to put an off/on switch on the mouse, since every time it is bumped the light activates causing unnecessary battery wear. Else, it works great.

This set is great, and all worked perfectly except the wireless remote which is plugged into the computer via usb needed to be literally 5 feet away for it to work perfectly...not the best setup for a media center. Other than that it worked perfectly.

Looks good, works good, But I was expecting more range! It doesn't gets too far, still good product for the price

the only bad thing is the scroll in the mouse. it is too much sensitive

The keyboard and mouse are not hooked to the computer with wires, but the receiver is and it has to be within a foot of the items in order to pick up their signal. So we can put the keyboard and mouse across the room from the PC, but we also have to stretch the wired receiver to just in front of them in order to use them! It almost defeats the purpose of having a "wireless" keyboard and mouse set.
However, they do work just fine when the receiver is in very close proximity.

So far we've had no problems with the MS wireless keyboard and mouse combo's purchased a couple weeks ago. Awesome price for the MS brand. I'll definitely order again if what we got continues to work as well as they are now...

I recommend this wireless, its worth the money. I haven't had any trouble with it and been using it every day.

I use this beauty every day and wouldn't have it any other way.
Microsoft the leader of hardware and softwear know their business.
I simply love it.

thizz iz a pretty good Microsoft wireless optical desktop
i will really recommend thizz to anyone out there that looking for one of thizz

I bought this at Circuit City at a discount and I'm glad I didn't spend any more money on it. While the manual says it's reception is 6 feet, this thing works erratically at any distance within that. They will be working fine before I leave, then when I come home they're not working. I restart the machine and they work again. This isn't even particularly consistent.

Sometimes I'll just be navigating and the mouse starts behaving erratically. The buttons work fine but the motion is erratic, and the keyboard works perfectly. Sometimes the mouse works perfectly and the keyboard is erratic. I restart, and they switch around. Right now I'm setting 2 feet away from the receiver and the mouse motion is working perfectly but not the buttons. How do you explain this Microsoft? Is this thing just programmed poorly or what? I have no explanation for this except that.

I will never buy another Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse again unless it's getting rave reviews. This is for a home theater and 6 feet should be easily reachable by devices using two AA batteries each. I pick up the mouse to inspect the batteries (Energizer alkaline), and the keyboard stops working. It's like the mouse interrupts the keyboard transmission and then the driver gums up trying to locate it again. Unbelievable. Thankfully they allow me to disable the little warning everytime there's a communication failure or I'd be seeing it every 5 seconds.

Use this for up-close PC use ONLY.

I bought this for use with my wife's laptop at home and am delighted with it. The common sensor for both only utilizes one usb port and installation was a breeze. I had it up and running within minutes and the wife loves being able to use a full grown keyboard with her laptop without having to sacrifice usb usage.

I bought this wireless keyboard/mouse combo a couple of months ago. I used the keyboard for a week before I trashed it; it had an annoying habit of going into "Insert" mode on its own and I would end up overlaying whole sentences before I would catch it. The mouse fared better -- it lasted almost two months and then it got weird. The cursor would travel all over the screen by itself and then it wouldn't respond to me at all. Not a battery issue. I threw it out, too, and reconnected my corded Dell mouse. I will not be buying any more wireless PC accessories because my next computer (soon) will be a Mac. I am sick of Microsoft and all its associated quality issues, and I don't even have Vista... :-)

I bought this Keyboard/Mouse Combo in April of 2008. When I was reading the box in Circuit City, it did not specify whether or not the mouse had an on/off switch. Having this switch was of utmost importance to me, as I don't use my computer often and I didn't want to replace batteries every few days. We asked the sales clerk, who told us that it did indeed have the switch, so we purchased it in confidence. It does NOT have the switch. And the mouse does NOT turn off by itself. I am left with no choice but to take out the batteries when it will not be used for long periods of time. Won't make that mistake again.

The battery life is supposed to be 6 months for the keyboard and mouse. The mouse lasted about 2 months, even when the batteries were taken out overnight and whenever it was not in use. I have yet to change the keyboard batteries, and it has been well over 6 months. Enough said.

The keyboard is the only thing keeping me from returning the entire unit. It has such a nice feel, works well. Also, unlike the mouse, it never loses contact with the wireless base. And as I said before, the batteries have yet to run out.

All in all, I might purchase this unit again, but mainly since the price has dropped since my purchase. I would give the keyboard 5 stars again and again.

The first product i got didnt work, had to wait again before recieving new keyboard. Big big hassel with company now i need to send it back, wont do business again.sorry

Thank You for your timely service. I'm enjoying the keyword and mouse that I ordered. I still can't believe I got it so cheap.

I bought this for my son's dell desktop and the setup was simple and the keyboard and mouse worked perfectly.

Lo tengo hace más de un año y siempre tengo problemas con el teclado. El mouse funciona bien, de hecho es muy bueno y comodo, pero el teclado omite letras, es casi imposible realizar control+C (para copy-paste) y que funcione bien. Ademas no se puede jugar con un teclado asi.

Lo bueno son los botones extras, que ademas son personalizables desde windows.

It works perfectly fine once I plug it in. Without the additional software, the media (play, mute, etc), mail, and web buttons work. One thing I found interesting is that the wireless mouse just needs one battery to function. The reason it's not 5 stars is because the material does feel plasticky cheap but it gets the job done at a low price.

Works flawlessly when you are within 7 feet of the transmitter. Range is probably shorter than claimed. The batteries last about 30 days with average use.

My trusty Logitech wireless keyboard died after I spilt an entire can of Diet Coke into it. I didn't want to pay the price to replace it, so I bought this Microsoft entry level wireless set instead. A big mistake, and I second the comments of all the other 1-star reviewers on here.

Unlike Logitech, which is plug-and-play, the MS set needed a driver installed. I couldn't get the driver on the supplied CD to work, but I did download it successfully from the MS website. The keyboard worked fine for 18 hours. I liked the responsiveness of the keys, and I loved the multi-media key layout. The mouse worked too, but I had continual messages saying there was a low signal, and I needed to move the receiver closer to it. The reciever was 2 inches away at the time. I am running XP, not Vista, and there should have been no problems with compatibility.

Then, suddenly, without warning, I got a complete blue screen PC failure. It nearly gave me a heart attack. Dire warnings about lost memory freaked me out completely as I hadn't backed up for a month. Once I got the PC going again I checked the error with the MS website, and discovered it was caused by their very own driver for this product.

After that the keyboard and mouse were dead in the water. I uninstalled the driver, reinstalled it, but they still were lumpen useless paperweights (I know, why did I bother?!)

I took this set straight back to the store and shelled out the extra to buy a replacement Logitech set, as I should done have in the first place.
Please don't waste your time buying this set; as another reviewer has stated, it totally is a game of roulette as to whether it works or not.

This is my second purchase of a MS Wireless keyboard and mouse-- it works really well and enables me to move without those messy wires!

I have 3 of these systems. They work fine, they can get picky about the placement of the receiver pod, but nothing to really complain about. pretty much as advertised. battery life seems really good.

DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT. I had an old logitech wireless that worked great for over 5 years (sold it with my old computer),but this Microsoft version needs to be reset at least 5 times a day and it constantly misses characters when typing.

BUY A LOGITECH INSTEAD.

It works,but the scroll in the mouse does not work correctly. It doesn't have good rage either. I wouldn't recommend it.

HAPPY WITH EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THIS KEYBOARD. IT DOES EVERYTHING IT CLAIMS TO DO. WOULD RECOMEND THIS TO EVERYONE.

Item being reviewed


Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop (PC & Mac) Quick delivery and no problem setting up the wireless system. Works very well and I find the touch on the keyboard very nice and quite. The only thing I wish the keyboard had was a light indicating that the caps lock was active; but this is no biggy. Would recommend this optical desktop system to a friend.

I am am not a computer nerd and am not too picky about my computer accessories. So when I was looking for a wireless keyboard and mouse to give me more movement freedom on my desk, I bought this set. It was the cheapest and it has not disappointed me. It is very easy to install: plug in USB cable, run the software disc and put in the AA batteries (included) and you are good to go.

This wireless combo works flawlessly with my iMac. Will order another one for my Sony laptop.

If you're looking to simply your desktop and get rid of some wire, buy this setup. Wireless mouse included. I got tired of the wire from the keyboard catching my shoe and then yanking the board backward. This little jewel solved that problem. Don't be persuaded by those who hate Microsoft. They sell first class hardware products at a decent price.

This keyboard and mouse are both low quality. I would recommend you go to a store and try it out first. The feeling on the keyboard is awful. The mouse is very cheap feeling also. The thing eats batteries so fast. The mouse will drift all over the screen. I used this item for a month then threw it away because I hated it so much. This is the first review I have actually felt compelled enough to write.

So basically this thing sucks.