Using the Mouse: Left- and Right Clicking

 

When you first sit down to a computer, it can seem like you're sitting down at a piano for the first time; so many places to put your hands, and how do you make the music? There are a multitude of keyboard shortcuts; in fact, you can operate a Windows computer exclusively with a keyboard: NO MOUSE! But using the mouse is so much more efficient and easy. Just like the piano, using your fingers in the right place takes a little practice and getting used to.

This page covers use of the mouse itself. Go here to learn about Drag-and-Drop and Selecting.

USING THE MOUSE

 

So let's look at a typical 3-button mouse. On a wheel mouse, the wheel there in the middle acts as a third button.

NOTE: The following explanations of the mouse buttons describe the default settings. It is possible, through the Control Panel in Windows, to change any and all settings of the buttons on your mouse according to your tastes.

 

LEFT BUTTON: The left button activates or opens a link or shortcut anywhere on your computer. If you left-click an icon on your desktop, it will open the applicable program. If you left-click a link on a web page, like you probably did to read this, a new page will come up that that link pointed to. A left-click is generally just referred to as a CLICK.

WHEEL: The wheel is used primarily for scrolling a page. You can scroll up or down through a list of files in My Computer, or scroll through a web page like this one. This is an alternative to using the scrollbar off to the right over there. If you have a wheel, try using it wherever you are in your computer. You'll get the hang of it real quick.

RIGHT BUTTON: OK. Here's where things get a little more interesting. There are so many things you can do with any given folder or file on your computer by RIGHT-CLICKING it. Once the menu comes up, you select the item you want, and then left-click it to make it work.

The graphic to the right is a typical "context menu" (what the right-click menu is actually called). Items in the menu will vary with the type of file that you're working with.

Note that some of these items depend on the software that is installed on your machine. Several of the items shown are for specific programs that I have, like Winamp, WinZip, Paint Shop Pro, etc.

OPEN
Opens or activates the file

EXPLORE
Allows you to view the contents of a folder in Windows Explorer

SEARCH
Opens a Search window so that you can look for something specific in the folder

SHARING AND SECURITY
Allows you to share that specific folder across a network. If you have only one computer, don't worry about this one.

SEND TO...
Allows you to move the file to another location, like a CD (if you have a writer), or an e-mail recipient. This menu can be customized if you use this often

CUT
Select Cut and the file "disappears", going into memory. You can go to another location on your computer, right-click, select Paste, and the file will be moved.

COPY
Select Copy and the file goes into memory, yet stays put. You can go to another location on your computer, right-click, select Paste, and the file will be copied

PASTE
Places a file out of memory into the location where you select this option.

CREATE SHORTCUT
This just creates a shortcut to the file in that same location. It will be labeled "Shortcut to..."

DELETE
Does just that. Windows won't let you delete a file that's being used, though under the right circumstances, it is possible to delete a critical Windows file. That will become apparent when you try to restart your computer next time. I get $30.00 an hour... Anyway, once a file is selected and you want to delete it, you can also just hit Delete on your keyboard.

RENAME
Selects the file name, allowing you to rename it as you wish. It won't let you use a name that's already in that location, and please don't try to rename the file extension, if it's visible. You'll get a warning from Windows anyway.

PROPERTIES
Shows you information about the file, like date created, file size, and so on. For example, if you right-click on a hard drive icon, like C: in My Computer, it'll allow you to access information on how full the drive is, as well as diagnostic tools.

This is something that you can go ahead and experiment with. Use the left and right buttons on your mouse and see what they do. If you have a scroll wheel, go ahead and use it. The scroll wheel is one thing that, once you start using it, you'll use all the time.