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Tech Tips: Right Click
This is the first in a series of articles designed to help you use your computer more effectively at work and at home. In this and future Tech Tips articles we will provide tips for beginning to advanced computer users.
This time we’re featuring a basic but often overlooked tool for users of Microsoft Windows operating systems: the Right Click.
Right ClickIf you are a user of Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP, chances are that you are using a pointing device known as a mouse, and it probably has at least two buttons. To “click” means to click once with the left button. To “double click” means to click twice in rapid succession with the left mouse button. No wonder most of us are skilled with the left button. Unfortunately, all of that practice with the left button can cause us to let the right button go to waste from a lack of use.
If you’re not in the habit of clicking that right mouse button, you’re missing out on a helpful tool for accessing everything from context-sensitive help to a variety of menu and command options.
For example, right click your desktop, or inside a document you’re working on, or on a link, a picture or an icon. Try selecting some text or a few files then right click for some commonly used (and maybe easily forgotten) options. If you experiment with right clicking in the middle of web pages, you may find that you simply never have to go back up to the menu or button bar again.
Get in the right click habit. It’s one of the best ways to make the most of your mouse and your applications.
This article also appears in the Spring 2003 issue of News from a Light in the Valley.