Basic Tips for the novice users
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Right Click Menu
For those starting out on PC's, please remember that most input
devices are there to make your life easier. These devices often
have many feature that involve shortcut or quick buttons. Take
for example the lowly mouse. The average mouse has 2 or 3 buttons,
the left click - normal use, the middle, - often used for double
clicking, and the right mouse button.... This is often by more
experienced users the most used button. The action resulting
from the right button is a menu of actions relating to the item
you have clicked on. As time goes on and you add more programs
this list will grow, containing more and more tools to help
make things quicker and easier.
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The windows button
This key is fairly standard on keyboards now and relates to
the start menu. On pressing this button your start button will
activate and show you your start menu. Nothing special so far,
but when your mouse stops working it is very useful. Combined
with the tab, (left side keyboard 4th button up), the space
bar, (long one at the bottom) and the Enter button, (right side
of keyboard to rows high) The combination of these and sometimes
the arrow keys should get you out of most problems where you
have lost your mouse. This allows you to save your work or sort
the problem and restart the machine.
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Ctrl+Alt+Del ???
What is that? In English it is the Control, Alt and Delete buttons.
The combination of all three pressed together results in a windows
option box, this contains several options: Lock Computer, Log-Off,
Shut Down, Change Password, Task Manager & Cancel. The task
manager option takes you back to your normal desktop window
and opens another window containing the task manager. This utility
shows you all the things that are running (processes) applications
(Software) and also the state of your memory, processor and
networks. On the applications tab you have the option to end
the process, thus ending a problem program. The process tab
is for more experienced users, but does a similar thing to applications,
but with more elements.
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The Mouse
No not a little furry one, they just squeak when you press them!
A PC mouse, a basic device for interaction with your PC. Generally
they have 2 or 3 buttons, left, right and middle. The left click
is the button used for most things, clicking an icon, selecting
an object, item or text. Clicked twice on an icon opens a program.
The right mouse button is generally used to access a menu which
is related to the item you have selected. e.g. An image may
off you the options to preview, print, open, resize etc. As
you install more programs you may find that options are added
to the right click menu. The middle button and scroll wheel
can be programmed to suit your requirements, but the scroll
wheel is usually used for moving up and down a page, the default
is 3 lines at a time, the button varies depending on make, but
is often a automatic scroll which moves the page up or down
slowly until it reaches the end.
Most mouse devices can be programmed to do any action you require,
so if you have a program that you want to open on a right click
or middle click this can easily be done through the mouse properties.
Some mice come with varying amounts of buttons and apart from
the usually 3 the rest can be used for all sorts of tricks and
options.
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