Windows XP Professional: The Missing Manual

Mouse

All of the icons, buttons, and menus in Windows make the mouse a very important tool. And the Mouse program is its configuration headquarters (Figure 9-13).

Figure 9-13. If you’re a southpaw, you’ve probably realized that the advantages of being left-handed when you play tennis or baseball were lost on the folks who designed the computer mouse. It’s no surprise, then, that most mice are shaped poorly for lefties—but at least you can correct the way the buttons work.

TROUBLESHOOTING MOMENTSharing a Computer Between a Lefty and Righty

If a right- and left-hander share a computer, confusion and marital discord may result. If the mouse is set for the righty, nothing works for the lefty, who then may assume that the PC is broken or cranky.

If you’re using individual user accounts (see Chapter 17), Windows XP can solve the problem by switching the left- and right-button modes automatically when each person logs on.

But if you’re not using user accounts, you probably need a quick way to switch the mouse buttons between lefties and righties. The easiest way is to create a shortcut to the Mouse control panel. Be sure to put it on the desktop or the Quick Launch toolbar, as described in Section 3.4.3, so that the button-switching checkbox is only a click away.

Buttons Tab

This tab offers three useful controls: button configuration, double-click speed, and ClickLock.

Button configuration

This ...