Windows 7: Microsoft Sidewinder X8 wireless mouse and WMC7

I've had a media center pc (currently Windows 7 home premium 64bit) in my living room for over 3 years now and have only used four types of input devices.

1. wired keyboard for bios access and gaming
2. media center remote w/ mouse thumb pad (don't use this anymore)
3. wireless Microsoft media center keyboard
4. wireless Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse
additionally a racing wheel and joystick for gaming


My 2 primary devices are the wireless keyboard and mouse and I have an end table next to my lazyboy that I keep a mousepad on at all times. The charger/receiver for the mouse I keep on a speaker next to the tv. I really like the magnetic connector for easy connecting and removal. This is the one major feature that has kept me from trying a Logitech multi button programmable mouse.


My questions:


1. Even though I can (semi) control wmc the way I want by custom programming the mouse buttons in mouse properties, when I try to make the customizations only within "program specific settings" (for wmc), they don't work. I have only tested the "program specific settings" with one other program (internet explorer) and it worked fine. Is this anything I can fix? (ie. registry hack)


2. I can program the go back and skip forward buttons ( |< and >| ), which are actually the same as keystrokes Q and P, but I can't program the other nonstandard keystrokes, such as volume, pause/play, etc. that are on my media center keyboard.
Am I screwed on this also?


3. I really like the setup I have with the exception of having to either grab my keyboard or point with my mouse to control these other functions. Does anyone have any other likely setup candidates you think might work for me? I didn't care for the thumb mouse pad control on a media center remote and based on my experience with the Wii, I don't think I would care for an "air" mouse either.


4. The buttons on my wireless media center keyboard have been getting worse for a long time now. Any suggestions on a good wireless media center keyboard?


Thanks in advance for any responses.