COMPUTER LITERACY

Mouse & Keyboard Skills

Overview

The Mouse

buttons

wheel

The Keyboard

key combination “shortcuts”

The Mouse

(Point)

Click

Double-click

Click-twice

Triple-click

Drag

Right-click

Right-drag

Scroll

Auto-scroll

Zoom

Mouse buttons Mouse wheel

The Mouse

Point –

The mouse is a pointing device –

roll it across your physical desktop to

move the corresponding pointer on your

“virtual” desktop.

Resting your mouse pointer over a tool on a toolbar

provides you with a “tool tip” (name of the tool).

Resting your mouse pointer over objects on the desktop

or within an active storage window provides you with a

“screen tip” (information about the object)

The Mouse – buttons

Click – (left button)

To “click” means to quickly press

and release the left mouse button

WITHOUT MOVING THE MOUSE

while the button is down.

Clicking the left mouse button “selects” the object you

are currently pointing at – generally that object will

change color to indicate that it has been selected.

Note: an object that has been selected can be

“activated” (opened) by pressing the ENTER key.

The Mouse – buttons

Double Click – (left button)

To “double click” means to quickly press and release

the mouse button twice in rapid succession WITHOUT

MOVING THE MOUSE while the button is down.

Double clicking “activates” (opens) the object you are

currently pointing at.

Also, double click is a fast and easy way to select a

single word.

The Mouse – buttons

Click Twice – (left button)

To “click twice” means to quickly press and release the

mouse button twice in SLOW succession ON THE

OBJECT LABEL (the pause between clicks must be slow

enough that it is not interpreted as a double click).

Click twice is a fast way to RENAME a file, folder or

shortcut.

The Mouse – buttons

Triple Click – (left button)

To “triple click” means to quickly press and release the

mouse button three times in rapid succession WITHOUT

MOVING THE MOUSE while the button is down.

Triple clicking on a paragraph is a fast and easy way

to select an entire paragraph.

The Mouse – buttons

Drag – (left button)

To “drag” means to HOLD DOWN the left mouse button

and move the mouse (also referred to as drag’n’drop).

Dragging can be used to either MOVE an object from

one location to another, or to COPY an object to

another location.

Also, the drag operation can be used to select multiple

“contiguous” objects (objects that are immediately next

to one another) by simply dragging a “marquee”

around the objects you wish to select.

The Mouse – buttons

Right Click – (right button)

To “right click” means to quickly press and release the

“right” mouse button WITHOUT MOVING THE MOUSE

while the button is down.

Right clicking generally provides a “context sensitive”

shortcut menu, based on the object you are current

pointing at. It is called a shortcut menu because it is a

shortcut to getting done whatever it is you are trying to

do.

When in doubt – right click on the object!

The Mouse – buttons

Right Drag – (right button)

To “right drag” means to HOLD DOWN the right mouse

button and move the mouse.

Right dragging an object will ALWAYS provide you

with a shortcut menu once your release the mouse

button.

Note: when in doubt, it is always safer to right-drag an

object than it is to simply drag it!

The Mouse – wheel

Scroll

The mouse wheel can be used to

scroll through content on screen

Roll the wheel toward you to

scroll down the page

Roll the wheel away from you to

scroll up the page

The Mouse – wheel

Auto Scroll

Auto scroll provides a way of

scrolling “hands-free”

To set auto scroll, press the mouse

wheel down as if it were a button –

this places a “scroll anchor” on your screen.

The further you move your mouse away from the scroll

anchor the fast the scrolling.

To EXIT auto scroll, simply press the mouse wheel again.

The Mouse – wheel

Zoom

When used in conjunction with the

Control (Ctrl) key on the keyboard,

the mouse wheel can be used to

zoom in or out.

Hold down one of the Ctrl keys on

your keyboard, then roll the mouse wheel:

Roll the wheel toward the screen to zoom in

Roll the wheel away from the screen to zoom out

Keyboard Shortcuts

The fastest way to work with an

Operating System or an

Application, is to learn the

associated keyboard shortcuts.

Generally, the most efficient

computer users work with one

hand on the mouse and the other

on the keyboard (to execute

keyboard shortcuts in conjunction

with mouse moves).

Keyboard Shortcuts

To execute a two-key combination; first press and hold

down the “modifier” key (for example, the Ctrl key),

and while that key is down, quickly press and release

the second key. DO NOT try to press both keys at the

same time!

The second key should be pressed and released quickly

or the operation may begin to repeat (the keys on your

keyboard will repeat if held down long enough).

The following shortcut key combinations are universal

throughout the Windows environment…

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + s

Ctrl + z

Ctrl + a

Ctrl + x

Ctrl + c

Ctrl + v

Ctrl + p

Alt + F4

Ctrl + Alt + Del

Ctrl (Control) key shortcuts Other key combinations

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + s

“S” is short for SAVE. This shortcut is a fast and easy way to

save a file without having to “mouse” your way through a

menu or toolbar. If it is the first time you are saving the file,

you will be provided with the Save As… dialog box. If the

file has been saved before, then Ctrl+s will simply update

the file in storage (on disk) with the copy currently in

memory.

Ctrl + z

This keyboard shortcut generally will “UNDO” your last

action or edit.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + a

“A” is short for ALL - use this key combination to “select all”

– for example, all files within the current folder

Ctrl + x

This key combination will CUT the currently selected

object(s); generally, to be “moved” somewhere else using

the paste command

Ctrl + c

“C” is short for COPY - This key combination will copy the

currently selected object(s) to be “pasted” somewhere else

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + v

Use this key combination to “paste” the current contents of the Clipboard (from earlier cut or copy procedures)

Ctrl + p

“P” is short for PRINT - This key combination will send the current file to your default printer.

Alt + F4

This key combination will CLOSE the currently active window (storage or application). If no windows are currently open and active, Alt+F4 will begin the shut down process for Windows.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + Alt + Del

To perform this key combination, first press and hold down

the Ctrl and Alt keys together – then, while these two keys

are down, press the Del key once.

This procedure will either start the re-boot process, or call

up the Task Manager – depending on the version of

Windows running.