For those who have grown up in the age of Windows and Mac computers, the usage of a mouse is something that is second nature. However, many of us are a little bit older than that, and in many cases, a mouse is not something that we are immediately comfortable with, nor is it entirely intuitive in its use.
Let’s start by explaining what a mouse is. Very simply, it’s a pointing device. It lets you point at items that your computer is displaying on the screen, and having pointed at something, you can then select it.
The mouse should be placed next to your keyboard. Its location should be comfortable for you, and it needs a little bit of clear room on your desk so that you may move it around. Getting a mousepad is a good idea: it can define the area that your mouse has to use, and it provides a good surface upon which your mouse can operate.
To use it, just place your hand over the top of the mouse, thumb to one side of it, your first two fingers pointing towards the top of the mouse (away from you) and the rest of your fingers on the other side of it.If your mouse has one or two buttons, you may find that you can very comfortably rest your first and second fingers on the buttons.
Don’t grip the mouse tightly though; relax, and hold it firmly, so that you can control it with comfort.
To move it you simply drag it across your desk or mousepad. As you do so, watch the screen, rather than the mouse. As you, for instance, drag your mouse in a circular motion, if you watch the screen, you will see that the pointer, called a cursor, will move around the screen in sync your how you are moving the mouse.
Try moving the cursor to the top of the screen. And then drag it down to the bottom. To the left edge, and then to the right. When the cursor runs off the screen, just drag your hand back in the opposite direction, until the cursor reappears.
Repeat this exercise a few times until it’s comfortable for you and it starts to feel easy to do.
Buttons.
Your mouse might have some buttons on it. On a Mac, you find that there’s no actual buttons, or maybe just one. If you’re using a Windows computer, you may find two or more buttons, which might seem to be confusing, but it’s really not.
The buttons are there to let you “talk” to the computer. Except that you don’t actually talk, but you do give the computer commands through the use of your mouse.
This is done by “clicking” the mouse. For a normal mouse click, you just press, and then release, the left-hand mouse button.
Press. And then immediately release.
Be careful to not hold the button down for too long though; a very quick but definite downwards press, and then immediately letting it go, is all that it needed. It should be just like snapping your fingers; easy.
Find an icon that’s displayed on your screen. An icon is a small image that represents something saved on your computer, in what is called your desktop. It’s not really a desktop, of course, but like a real desktop, it represents items that are very easily within your immediate view and reach.
Choose one of those items, and move your mouse pointer so that it’s covering this item, and then click the mouse button. You should see the icon change, as it becomes selected.
Now choose a different icon, and repepat this process, selecting that icon in stead. You should see the first icon become deselected, and the new one selected in its place.
Continue practising this for a few minutes, and you will then have the basic functionality of mouse usage mastered.
<p><a href=”http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1857″>Image: zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>