Making the Most of a Laptop Mouse
It took laptop developers
years before they came up with the solution to the
laptop-mouse problem: the mouse pad. Originally called a
touch pad, the mouse pad lets you control the mouse by
gliding a thumb or finger along a flat surface. Buttons
nearby emulate the left and right buttons found on your
typical bar-of-soap mouse.
There's an art to using the mouse pad:
- You have to be careful not to touch the mouse pad in more
than one spot. If you do, the pointer jumps about on the
screen as if you're electrocuting it. Touch the mouse pad in
only one spot with one finger.
- You may find using your forefinger to move the mouse
easiest. Use your thumb to click the left-right buttons on
the bottom of the mouse pad.
- You need only a light touch to use your mouse pad.
- The most difficult mouse operation is the drag - where you
have to hold a button down while moving the pointer. With
practice, you can master this difficult task.
- Try to avoid accidentally hitting the right mouse button
when you mean to hit the left one. This mis-click causes
context menus to pop up in Windows. Very frustrating.
- Some mouse pads let you tap the pad to simulate a mouse
click. You can check the Mouse icon in the Control Panel to
enable or disable this feature.
IBM's "happy stick" keyboard mouse
You may find a joystick-like mouse, popular on some IBM
models, that looks like a pencil eraser jammed between the
keyboard's G, H, and B keys. IBM calls it the TrackPoint,
though you can call it a happy stick (but only if you want
to).
The idea behind the happy stick is that you can manipulate
it by using the index finger of either hand. You can then
use your thumb (of either hand) to click the left or right
"mouse" buttons.
Like the mouse pad, using the happy stick takes some
training and getting used to.
Controlling the mouse
You can control your laptop's mouse hardware by using the
Mouse icon in the Windows Control Panel. By opening that
icon, you find the controls for configuring and setting up
your laptop's pointing device.
In addition to the standard mouse information, you may find
a custom tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box. Here, you
can configure the laptop's touch pad or custom pointing
device.
If you're a southpaw, use the Buttons tab in the Mouse
Properties dialog box to switch the functions of the left
and right mouse buttons.
You can use the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog
box to change the way the mouse pointer looks on the screen.
You can use items in the Pointer Options tab to help you
locate a lost mouse pointer. You can also use settings such
as "pointer trials" and "show location" to help find
hard-to-see mouse pointers on the laptop's display.
Get a real mouse!
The best solution for using a mouse on a laptop is to get a
real mouse. No, not the furry rodent kind. Silly. A desktop
computer mouse.
Consider getting a desktop computer mouse and using it on
your laptop instead of the touch pad. Yes, it's one more
thing to carry. But you may find using a traditional mouse
easier than the mouse pad.
You can find specialty computer mice designed just for
laptops. Some are smaller than regular mice, some come with
retractable cords, and some are even cordless!
Be careful when you install the software for your external
mouse. Sometimes doing so disables the software controlling
the laptop's touch pad. You may want to connect the external
mouse and see whether it works. If it does, and you're
happy, then just skip installing the software.
Note that not all laptops come with a mouse port! If your
laptop doesn't have a mouse-friendly port, get a USB mouse
and plug it into your laptop's USB port.
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