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Windows only 
Mouse gestures are something that I’ve gotten into the habit of using for years now, and giving them up would almost be like giving up the ability to use keyboard shortcuts. Some gestures have become second nature to me, and when I’m on a computer that doesn’t have that capability I get rather frustrated.
The bad news is that a lot of these apps have a tendency to not get updated very often. A good example of this is with StrokeIt… one of the most popular mouse gesture programs. The last time it was updated was over 4-years ago.
The other day I started doing some searching and found a relatively new app called High Sign, and I like what it has to offer. It’s extremely simple to understand and operate, and has all the right features… like being able to record your own custom gestures.
Once you’ve recorded a gesture you can assign an action to it. This includes minimizing/maximizing a window, switching between apps, running a program or command, and simulating a hotkey combination or keystrokes. With these options you should be able to do just about anything you want, and you can even restrict a gesture to a particular application.
Once you get High Sign installed it will be in training mode so that you can create some new actions, but it does already come pre-configured with a few popular ones. To start using High Sign you’ll want to exit out of Training Mode by right-clicking on the System Tray icon, and then just hold down the right mouse button to start drawing.
High Sign is an open source and freeware application for Windows only
You might want to warn people that even though it’s a very promising application which already works quite well, this is still an alpha version (i.e. not even at the beta stage yet). Handle with care and at your own risk.
gMote ([handform.net]) is also a very nice StrokeIt alternative.
Just thought its worth mentioning that Opera comes with mouse gestures built-in and they are really handy, although I’m not sure how complete they are compared to these system wide apps.
I’m desperate for a program that is as effective as StrokeIt. I couldn’t even consider upgrading to a PC with Vista on it, because StrokeIt by all accounts doesn’t work very well with Vista.
Why on earth people use computers without using mouse gestures is an utter mystery to me to be honest, I guess people aren’t prepared to invest a few minutes setting up and learning gestures. They must save me hours each month, days each year.
For anybody who doesn’t currently use gestures but thinks they might be useful my suggestion is that you start off learning and using just a few, and then add to them once they’ve become second nature.
If High Sign proves to be as good as StrokeIt then I will definitely be making a donation, I will watch its progress with interest.
@DComedian: StrokeIt works perfectly for me on Vista Enterprise Edition for the last 9months! All you need to do is turn off the ‘Draw colored line when entering gesture’ and you’re ready to go
Thanks AB – I always knew that if I was forced into buying a new PC with Vista then I’d still carry on using StrokeIt, but it must be slightly more difficult without being able to see the gesture being drawn? I guess you get used to it?!
I do like the fact that Opera comes with mouse gesture support, but I know some people prefer system-wide applications so that the gestures are more universal.
I don’t use mouse gesture applications that much because I’m more of a keyboard shortcut kind of guy. My hand isn’t on the mouse all that often.