The mouse is probably one of the most used peripherals you have on your PC but did you know that you can customise it for use by a left handed person, slow down or speed up the double click button and you can even change the pointer to a dinosaur.
Getting to the mouse properties dialogue box is different in Windows XP, Vista and 7 but once there, everything else should look very similar.
- Windows XP - Go to Start - Control Panel and Double Click on the Mouse Icon.
- Windows Vista - Go to Start - Control Panel - Hardware and Sound - Mouse
- Windows 7 - Go to Start - Control Panel - Hardware and Sound - Devices and Printers - Mouse
Left Handed, Double Click Speed and Click Lock
Once your mouse dialog box is open you will see several tabs along the top (see image). In the first tab, called Buttons, you have the option to make you mouse suitable for left handed people. If you are not left handed, you will probably wonder what all the fuss is about. However, left handed users might prefer to use the mouse on the left hand side of the keyboard and switch the buttons to make the one you use most, the one on the right.
Then you have the option to change the speed of the double click. Scroll the slide bar to the left or right (see image) depending on whether you want to double click faster or slower. The Folder icon to the right of the slide bar allows you to test the speed of your double click, (see image) so you can alter it again without having to come out of your mouse properties.
The turn on Click Lock is really useful if you have a job holding down the left mouse button and dragging to select objects. If you tick this box and go to settings, you can then drag the scroll bar down to short. The next time you want to select a group of icons you just need to click once, drag a little bit and release. The mouse will then act as though the left mouse button is continually pressed until you click it again to release it. It may take a little bit of getting used to but a useful tool.
Change your Pointer Scheme to a Dinosaur
The next tab is Pointers. It may seem like a bit of a gimmick to change your pointer to a dinosaur but there is a serious point to this, excuse the pun. Some of the built in schemes are magnified versions of the standard themes which makes seeing the mouse much easier. You can also customise each pointer after you have selected your scheme.
You do this by clicking once on one of the options listed below customize like Normal Select. (see image)Then select browse near the bottom right. A window opens with all the icons to choose from, so if you like one of the icons from a different scheme, you can change it to fit in with your chosen scheme. (see image)
Pointer Options - Watch Your Speed
If you find the pointer moves too fast or sometimes looks like it even disappears; you can control these problems in the Pointer Options tab. The motion box allows you to drag the slider to the left to slow down the speed at which your mouse pointer moves. Further down, there is the option to have your mouse displayed. This is useful if you have a very large and busy screen and tend to lose your mouse. When you press the Control button (Ctrl) on your keyboard, the location of your mouse is immediately highlighted with a large radar type graphic on your screen. (see image)
Finally, if your mouse has a scroll wheel (that's the wheel that sits between the left and right mouse buttons), allowing you to scroll up and down pages without dragging the slide bars at the right; then you can control how many lines it scrolls with each turn of the wheel. This option is under the Wheel tab.
Apart from having great fun with the different pointer schemes available, you may find that making a few adjustments to your mouse controls will make using the computer much easier.
In this article I have covered only the controls that are provided with Windows. If you have a more sophisticated mouse with extra buttons, it should have come with its own software and you will find out how to use these controls either on the disc that came with your mouse or online at your mouse manufacturer's website.
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