It took laptop developers years before they came up with the solution to the laptop-mouse problem: the mouse pad. Originally called a touch pad, the mouse pad lets you control the mouse by gliding a thumb or finger along a flat surface. Buttons nearby emulate the left and right buttons found on your typical bar-of-soap mouse.
There's an art to using the mouse pad:
- You have to be careful not to touch the mouse pad in more than one spot. If you do, the pointer jumps about on the screen as if you're electrocuting it. Touch the mouse pad in only one spot with one finger.
- You may find using your forefinger to move the mouse easiest. Use your thumb to click the left-right buttons on the bottom of the mouse pad.
- You need only a light touch to use your mouse pad.
- The most difficult mouse operation is the drag - where you have to hold a button down while moving the pointer. With practice, you can master this difficult task.
- Try to avoid accidentally hitting the right mouse button when you mean to hit the left one. This mis-click causes context menus to pop up in Windows. Very frustrating.
- Some mouse pads let you tap the pad to simulate a mouse click. You can check the Mouse icon in the Control Panel to enable or disable this feature.
IBM's "happy stick" keyboard mouse
You may find a joystick-like mouse, popular on some IBM models, that looks like a pencil eraser jammed between the keyboard's G, H, and B keys. IBM calls it the TrackPoint, though you can call it a happy stick (but only if you want to).
The idea behind the happy stick is that you can manipulate it by using the index finger of either hand. You can then use your thumb (of either hand) to click the left or right "mouse" buttons.
Like the mouse pad, using the happy stick takes some training and getting used to.
Controlling the mouse
You can control your laptop's mouse hardware by using the Mouse icon in the Windows Control Panel. By opening that icon, you find the controls for configuring and setting up your laptop's pointing device.
In addition to the standard mouse information, you may find a custom tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box. Here, you can configure the laptop's touch pad or custom pointing device.
If you're a southpaw, use the Buttons tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box to switch the functions of the left and right mouse buttons.
You can use the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box to change the way the mouse pointer looks on the screen.
You can use items in the Pointer Options tab to help you locate a lost mouse pointer. You can also use settings such as "pointer trials" and "show location" to help find hard-to-see mouse pointers on the laptop's display.
Get a real mouse!
The best solution for using a mouse on a laptop is to get a real mouse. No, not the furry rodent kind. Silly. A desktop computer mouse.
Consider getting a desktop computer mouse and using it on your laptop instead of the touch pad. Yes, it's one more thing to carry. But you may find using a traditional mouse easier than the mouse pad.
You can find specialty computer mice designed just for laptops. Some are smaller than regular mice, some come with retractable cords, and some are even cordless!
Be careful when you install the software for your external mouse. Sometimes doing so disables the software controlling the laptop's touch pad. You may want to connect the external mouse and see whether it works. If it does, and you're happy, then just skip installing the software.
Note that not all laptops come with a mouse port! If your laptop doesn't have a mouse-friendly port, get a USB mouse and plug it into your laptop's USB port.
