WHAT ARE WE LEARNING: All about your computer! How to use your mouse. How to log off and on. How to shut down your computer properly. ​

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT: Like all things electronic, we need to treat them with respect and delicately. Learning how to use your computer properly leads to longer equipment life as well as good computer practices.   ​

HOW WILL MY TEACHER KNOW WHAT I LEARNED: This week we will learn various terms and practices and play a game to establish how much you know!​

Most computer users don't take full advantage of the computer mouse. Below are computer mouse tips and secrets that help you get the full potential of your computer mouse and increase your overall productivity while on the computer. 

Shift key and mouse click

Many text editors and programs allow you to highlight all or portions of text using the Shift key and the mouse. For example, click at the beginning of this text. Hold down the Shift key, scroll to the bottom, and click at the end of the text to highlight all of the text.

Additional Tip: Holding down the Alt key while dragging and highlighting text in a text editor allows you to selectively highlight text. Highlighting text this way is useful if the paragraph or other text is in a column. Note: This tip  has to be done in a text editor or word processor. 

Take full advantage of the scroll wheel

Today, everyone is familiar with a mouse wheels ability to scroll up and down on a page. However, this wheel can also do so much more, below are a few examples.

• The mouse wheel is not only a wheel. It can also be used as a button. Pressing down on the wheel will acts like a third mouse button. The wheel button can be used to open a web page in a tab by clicking the wheel on any link and can also be used to close a tab by clicking the wheel on any open tab.

• Zoom in and out on a web page, word document, excel spreadsheet, etc. by holding down the Ctrl key and scrolling up to zoom in and down to zoom out.

• Hold down the Shift key and scroll down in most Internet browsers to go back to the previous web page.

• Some mouse wheels can be pushed left or right to also move back and forward between web pages.

Select with double and triple click

Any word can be selected by double-clicking the word. If you want to highlight the whole paragraph or sentence, click the mouse button three times on any word. Try it now on this paragraph by clicking three times fast on any word in the paragraph.

If you double-click and then drag your mouse, it highlights one word at a time. 

Use the right-click

Take full advantage of the right-click any time you highlight text or want to view the properties of an object. For example, if you highlight a file or text, you can right-click that highlighted item, copy it, and then right-click anywhere else to paste it.

Additional Tips:  If you highlight or select any file or text and then click and drag while holding the right mouse button, when you let go an option to move or copy that file is shown. This saves you the extra step of having to right-click where you want to paste the item.

While in a browser, pressing and holding Ctrl while clicking on any link opens a menu with options for that link. 

Ctrl key and mouse click or highlight

While holding down the Ctrl key, you can left-click to select multiple objects or highlight multiple sections of text. For example, in the below selection box, if you wanted to highlight more than one of the items listed, you could hold down Ctrl and select each item you want highlighted.

Manage the open window with the mouse

Double-click the top title bar of any window to maximize a window or, if it is already maximized, resize it to a smaller window. You can also double-click the icon for the window in the top-left corner of the window to close that window.

Move the mouse with your keyboard

Instead of using the mouse that came with your computer, you can also enable Windows to use the number pad as a mouse.