How to enable reverse scrolling in Mac OS X Snow Leopard

When the first developer preview of Apple's next Mac OS, Mac OS X Lion, was released earlier this year, most users immediately noticed that scrolling was reversed. What does this mean? When you want to scroll up a page, you must move your fingers down the trackpad or mouse or whatever you're using. If you want to move down a page, you must move your fingers up. It's exactly the opposite of what we're all used to.

It seems as though Apple got this whole idea of reverse scrolling from iOS and they want to stick with it. For some users, like me, it was relatively hard and confusing to get used to. It's especially confusing if you have to go from Mac OS X Lion to an older version of Mac OS X or Windows, since they all use “normal” scrolling. But, if you're on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Mac OS X Leopard, one developer has got  you covered – just download his small app and it enables reverse scrolling on your computer, just as if you were running Lion. This would allow you to get some practice in, so when Mac OS X Lion is officially released this summer, you'll be ready.

Here's how to get Scroll Reverser running:

Step 1: Download the app from this website and unzip the file after it's downloaded.

Step 2: Drag the app from the location you unzipped the file from to your Applications folder.

Step 3: Open up the app.

Step 4: You'll notice a new icon in your menu bar that looks like two arrows going in opposite directions. Click on that icon and make sure “Reverse Scrolling” is checked off.

That's it! Start getting some practice in for Mac OS X Lion!