How to get the most from
your mouse
Whether on a PC or a Mac, your
mouse is adjustable and customisable to suit the way you work
 Do
you have a runaway mouse? Or if you suffer from arthritis
or repetitive strain injury (RSI), would it help to reconfigure
it? There are plenty of accessibility options with both Windows
and Mac computers to help you.
Windows
In Windows, the first stop is the Control Panel, which you
can find by going to the Start button on the bottom left of
your screen. When you left-click you will see a range of options,
including the Control Panel.
Go to the Mouse properties box, which will open at the Buttons
tab. You will see that you have the opportunity to swap over
your mouse buttons – so if your index finger is painful,
or getting worn out with left-clicking the mouse, your other
fingers can take over. Needless to say, this will take a little
getting used to.
You can also speed up or slow down the mouse here to suit
your needs. There is also the option to use ClickLock, which
will let you highlight text or drag it without using the mouse
button at all. There are various settings you can choose so
that the mouse does not lock immediately.
The next tab along, Pointers, will help you find larger cursors
and other visual signals if you find them too small at present.
Or if you just fancy a change, you can choose one of the fun
options which use leaves, lizards or mermaids instead of the
usual hourglasses and arrows.
The Pointer Options tab lets you choose the speed of the
pointers you have chosen. If your pointer tend to get lost
you can have a special signal when you press the control button.
Another choice is to have a pointer ‘trail’, which
again might make it easier to find. The next tab is for a
mouse wheel, which not every mouse has. It is well worth having
one of these, especially if you have to scroll through long
documents. The options here let you choose how to scroll,
ie for one screen at a time, or for a particular number of
lines. The default is set to three lines, but you can vary
this.
The final tab, Hardware, is probably of more interest to
your IT manager as they will take a look here if you are having
problems which you can’t fix yourself. And if all else
fail, you may just need another mouse. They don’t last
forever!
Apple Macs
Mac users have rather fewer options but can still change tracking
speed and double-clicking speed. From the Apple menu, go to
System Preferences, and then choose Keyboard and Mouse. Further
adjustments can also be made via General Controls, where you
can adjust the insertion point blinking.
Though Mac users traditionally have a single-button mouse,
the new Mighty Mouse is now available, which has a scroll
ball at its tip.
| Webwatch:
1901 census |
 The
1901 census (http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/) was such a hit when it was first put online that it crashed – and had to be taken off for more than a year while capacity was increased.
Five years on, it is safe to browse, and can be used
to trace a family member living in England or Wales
a century ago. It is free to browse, but to view detailed
records there is a GB£5 charge. There are also
small charges for such additional information as entries
for the rest of the household. You do get a typed record
– which is welcome as the handwritten original
census returns can be hard to read.
Needless to say, the more information you have to start
with, the more successful your search is likely to be.
For a person search you are asked their name, approximate
age in 1901, birthplace, and other information such
as marital status and occupation, if you have them.
Details of women’s maiden names were unfortunately
not recorded.
Another use of the 1901 census is to identify who lived
at your home or another address over a century ago.
This is not quite as easy to use as it sounds, as abbreviations
were common, so you may need to use a wildcard (eg adding
an asterisk so that for Belgrave type in ‘belg*’).
Bear in mind, though, that street names and boundaries,
like people’s names, may have changed.
Finally, if you get stuck, the online guided tours
and FAQs are useful, and the services of a research
assistant are also available at a fee of GB£20/hour.
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