Which of the following mouse operations would you use if you want to select an item on the screen?

If you have not used Windows in the past, you may benefit from some basic mouse instruction.

The mouse is an external or built-in device for visual navigation. There are various forms of mouse devices:

• classical form which you move around upon a mouse pad
• track ball that you roll with your fingers
• touch pad where you touch around with your fingers, etc.

Moving the mouse around the pad moves the arrow (or mouse pointer) on your screen. The mouse pointer changes its shape according to the visual element passing over. It can appear as a pen in an Edit Box, as a brush within a painting application, etc.

A mouse can have several buttons, but when using a standard software application, you will only be using the two standard mouse buttons: left and right. The buttons on the mouse allow you to start programs, move objects from one place to another and change various settings without typing in complex text commands.

You can perform the following easy functions with your mouse:

Contents

5.1 Single Clicking

5.2 Double Clicking

1. to open a file or folder to view the contents and
2. to start a program.

Because Windows needs to distinguish whether you actually meant to double click something or just single click an object twice, you may need to practice double clicking. The clicks must be rapid; Windows considers two consecutive, slow clicks as separate single clicks rather than one double click.

When double clicking on a folder, the folder opens and displays its contents.

If you double click a program icon, the program will start.

5.3 Right Clicking

Right click on the desktop and select New.
From the choices that appear, select the Folder option by moving the pointer over the word folder in the menu and clicking the left button.
A new folder that you can rename will appear on your desktop. You might create a new folder if you would like to have a location to put all of your backup files.

5.4 Dragging and Dropping

To drag an object, select it by clicking your left mouse button on the picture, or icon, and holding it down. While still holding the mouse down, drag the icon to the new location. Release the button.

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Many standard mice have two buttons: a left button and a right button. If you are right handed, the left mouse button will be directly under your index finger when you place your hand on the mouse. There are multiple ways to click an item using these two buttons:

• Single-click: This is the most common type of mouse click. To single-click, press the left mouse button once and immediately release it. Single-clicks are used in a variety of situations, for example:
  • When viewing a web site in a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, if you wish to visit a linked site, single-click the link for that site.
  • To enter text in a specific location, place the cursor there by single-clicking the location. This might be a text box in a form, a particular paragraph in a Word document, or a cell in a spreadsheet program such as Excel.
  
  
• Double-click: To double-click, click twice in rapid succession. If you do not click fast enough, however, the computer will register it as a single-click twice; if you are having trouble, try tapping your finger on the mouse button instead of pressing it. Use double-clicks for operations such as:
  • Opening applications: To open an application (i.e., Internet Explorer), double-click its icon.
  • Opening documents: To open a file you have saved, such as a Word document or a picture, double-click the file's icon. The appropriate application will launch and display the file.
  
  
• Right-click: When using the right mouse button, you need only single-click. You will not cause any problems if you double-click or click twice, but your computer will not interpret these types of clicking as being any different from a single-click.

  Right-clicking will cause a drop-down menu to appear with multiple options. This is called a contextual menu, and the options in the menu will be different depending on the application you are using and where your mouse pointer is positioned on the screen when you click. From the contextual menu, you can do such things as rename the file or folder you right-clicked, save it to a different location, or move it to the Recycle Bin.

  Note: In Mac OS X, the contextual menus can be accessed with a Ctrl-click (i.e., pressing the Ctrl button while clicking). Additionally, while Macs generally come with a one-button mouse, they do support two-button mice: if you plug in a two-button mouse, you will be able to use the right mouse button to right-click.

• Click and drag: Use click and drag to select multiple items. To click and drag, click the left mouse button, and then highlight the items or text that you wish to select. In some applications, this will create a box around your selected items. When you release the mouse, you will be able to drag your selection to a new location.
• Click twice: A fairly uncommon type of click is the "click twice". To perform a click twice, click the left mouse button twice with a slight pause between each click. If you pause for too long, the computer may recognize it as two single-clicks; however, if you click too quickly, the computer may interpret it as a double-click.

  The click twice is most useful for renaming files and folders on your computer. For example, if you have a folder on your desktop named Untitled, and you wish to give it a descriptive name such as Birthday photos, click the folder's current name twice. A text box with a cursor inside will appear, and you can change the name to Birthday photos or another name of your choosing.

This is document alow in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 13:29:00.

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