If you just need to emulate the keyboard or mouse with the SWFFB2, there are several utilities for that. Can't help you with configuring the FFB effects outside of games/sims, though...fortunately, those that do support FFB allow you plenty of control over the forces, and I don't mind the default centering force at all.
If the TrackIR 3 still works with the latest driver packages, then that's a good sign. Plenty of longevity with it, especially with the Vector Expansion. (I'm a TrackIR 4 user, though, bought used shortly before the TrackIR 5 released. It still serves me well.)