Tips & Tricks-March 2002

This month I want to concentrate on a specific set of tools. Most of what I am presenting works in all versions of Windows. As I started to write this I realized that we don't have any computers running Windows 98 in our house right now. We have Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Me, so I can't test all of these tips, but I do know that many are present in Windows 98 too.

As I work with a lot of different users on my job, I am finding that many people have not used the Right Mouse button for much of anything. Hidden under that button are many ways to accomplish some tasks quickly so I am going to explore a few of these. Remember that what you see when click the right mouse button depends on where you are when you click.

The Desktop

If you right-click on the desktop, you can arrange the icons on the desktop or access your display properties. It's quicker than going to the control panel to modify the settings.

My Network Places or Network Neighborhood

Right-click on the icon to get to the properties for your network-again you bypass having to go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Network. Much quicker than going through all these selections.

My Computer

Want to see your System settings? Right click on my computer and select Properties. In any version of Windows you will see the screen that you get if you go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, System. By now you should be seeing a pattern here.

The right click allows you to access the properties of the icons on your desktop, but not only that, you can do a number of other tasks. Again, the exact tasks will be determined by where you are when you right click, but some of the other tasks include copying files, pasting files, deleting files, opening a file with a program that you can select.

Files or Folders

A right-click on a file or folder gets you another couple of great utilities. Use "Send To" to email the file, to save it to a floppy or a CDRW drive, to save it to a compressed file, to create a shortcut to the file or folder. If you are using a network, you can share the folder and set security for it. You can add to the items in your Send To list by

If you are using Windows XP, you can right click on a JPEG file and rotate it, resize it, or set it to be your desktop background.

In different applications, you can use the right mouse button to see all sorts of menu and tasks-too many for me to list.

Right click on anything to see what you get. You will gain in efficiency and learn some new ways to do old tasks.