Whitwick & District U3A - Computing tip October 2013
This month we are looking at a few basic points for users of Windows.
A commonly asked question, especially by those beginning, is when to left-click (normally just referred to as click), when to right-click and where does double-click come in. In the vast majority of cases the principles are:
- Click to select something
- Double-click to action something
- Right-click to be offered a menu
However there are some common exceptions, it is possible to deliberately set a click to be an action, and usually when going through menus a single click is all that is needed. Although it is normal to have to double-click an icon on the desktop, only a single click is needed for an item in the Taskbar (the strip normally at the bottom of your screen alongside the Start button).
A point often overlooked is that almost any choice made using the mouse (or touchpad) is possible via the keyboard, and this is sometimes much quicker, especially if you are a reasonable typist. The list below is illustrative and is very far from exhaustive.
Windows key – opens the start menu
Most menus have an underlined letter, if this letter is used in combination with the Alt key (i.e. press the Alt and letter keys simultaneously) then that activates that menu choice. In later versions of Office with the ribbon (Office 2007 and later) just pressing the Alt key will cause the relevant letters to show in the ribbon.
Using the Ctrl key in combination with a letter works in most programs:
- Ctrl – A (i.e. Ctrl and the A key) selects everything
- Ctrl – C copies whatever is selected
- Ctrl – X cuts out whatever is selected
- Ctrl – V pastes whatever was copied or cut
- Ctrl – Z undoes your last action
F1 (normally found on the very top row of the keyboard) opens Help
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