http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/ps/win95/prodfact/secmouse.htm (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
Posted Date: March 10, 1995
Note The tasks and features discussed in the following paper are based on a beta release of the Windows 95 operating system. Any and all information in this article is subject to change in the released version of the product.
While I was working on a document in Word 6 for Windows a couple months back, an office mate of mine leaned over and said, "Try selecting some text, moving over to the left margin, and clicking the right mouse button." I did, and to my surprise, a drop-down menu appeared from which I could cut, copy, paste, or reformat the selected text. Finally, something useful from what seemed like a vestigial artifact. The right-mouse button, or more accurately, the secondary mouse button, has long had functionality, but that has not been widely known, so its use has seemed to be a power-user community secret. (Note: The right mouse button is called the secondary mouse button because users may switch their primary button from the customary left one to the right one). Usability tests conducted for Windows 95, for example, revealed that right-clicking was either overlooked or forgotten by most novice users.
Windows 95 user interface (UI) designers aimed to change this by making the secondary mouse button so useful and thoroughly documented that new users would get used to it and make it an integral part of their working method. The rest of this article gives you a preview of the useful functions built into that nifty little button that, until now, you'd ignored.
If you work on different projects over the course of a day, you may cram the Windows 95 Taskbar full of applications, utilities, and unused windows. By mid-afternoon most days, my Taskbar is a hodgepodge of all sorts of stuff. Instead of using 'Alt-Tab' or clicking Taskbar buttons to open and close each task, application or window, you can now use the Windows 95 secondary mouse button to open a new popup menu. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1 Popup Menu on Taskbar
From this menu you can instantly close any task on the Taskbar. Like all of the other menus in Windows 95, this one does not require you to hold down the mouse button as you select an option. To minimize, cascade, or tile all available windows, you can secondary mouse click a blank section of the Taskbar to bring up a popup menu listing these options.
In increasingly common client-server environments, connecting to and disconnecting from a multitude of server locations is commonplace. Documents, applications, tools--you're sure to find yourself grabbing things you need from all over the network. Windows 95 streamlines this sequence in several ways. For one thing, you can disconnect from a server location as simply as you can close a task: with one, secondary mouse click. When you have what you want from the server, click on the server location in the Windows Explorer and select Disconnect from the popup menu, presented to the right of the object. The mouse can help you create shortcuts to servers and other directories too.
Need quick, convenient access to object information? Windows 95's secondary mouse button lets you assess a document's size or read/write status with a single click. Figure 2 shows how 'secondary clicking' makes available the Properties and Create Shortcut options.
Figure 2 Expanding Menu Revealed by Secondary Mouse Clicking
Selecting the HTM file titled Kbsearch in Figure 2 and then the Properties option opens a window showing the file's type, location, size, MS-DOS name, date created, date modified, date last accessed, and attributes. If you work with lots of files, you'll find that this feature saves you some effort and time by alleviating the need to select a file and then drop down the File menu to select Properties.
You can use the same steps to find the specific properties of a networked computer or folder. For example, before you place some large files on a server, secondary mouse clicking the specific server location and selecting properties from the popup menu would enable you to make sure sufficient resources were available. The properties sheet displayed (see Figure 3) includes a handy pie chart of the server's used and available space.
Figure 3 Properties Sheet for a Server
Another new feature for the Windows 95 secondary mouse button is the ability to create a shortcut to a disk drive, application, folder, or network location then double click to access it from the desktop or from within an application.
If you work in a client-server environment, you surely find yourself routinely connecting to colleagues' computers. Let's say you're collaborating on some WWW files with an Online Program Manager, who prefers to keep the files on her local hard drive. You could create a shortcut, and relocate it on the desktop, to the network folder (in this case, a network folder called Msclient) where she keeps the files by secondary mouse clicking on the network folder's location icon in Windows Explorer, dragging the icon (see Figure 4) to the desktop, and selecting Create Shortcut Here.
Figure 4 Shortcut to Networked Msclient Folder on Another Computer
On the desktop, this shortcut would be readily available from whatever application you were using. You wouldn't have to browse or map any drives; you could simply double-click the shortcut to bring up a window that presented the networked folder's files. If you wanted to, you could rename this shortcut, and if the Online Program Manager renamed the folder, the shortcut would continue to work.
You can create shortcuts for most objects. On my desktop, for example, I've created them for several servers I frequently use, a few random applications I can't do without (Netscape, Hyperterminal, and Winword) and my CD player, which is essential equipment around here. Shortcuts are just another means provided by Windows 95 for customizing your work environment. You may prefer to keep the desktop free of them, relying instead on customizing the Start button's Start Menu programs. On the other hand, you may go crazy and create shortcuts to everything from your nightly grocery list to the game DOOM. A little experimentation will show you what works best for you.
If you have read TechNet News' previous feature article on Windows 95 you'll probably remember that its new Help is highly intuitive, with task-oriented instructions and embedded shortcuts that take you directly to specific dialog boxes. But even Help can be jazzed up with the secondary mouse button.
If you take a close look at any of the Control Panel Tools in Windows 95 you'll notice that each Tool dialog box has a ? button in the top right hand corner. When you click it, the pointer changes to a question mark, and context-sensitive Help concerning specific sections of the dialog box is displayed. That's pretty quick, but if it is still too slow for you, click the secondary mouse button on sections of the dialog box that puzzle you. (See Figure 5.).
Figure 5 Secondary Mouse Clicking for Context Sensitive Help
Another handy Help trick with the secondary mouse button is to click in open Help dialog boxes. Rather than selecting the Options button each time you want to copy Help text to another document or print Help information, simply secondary mouse click anywhere inside it. The popup menu, as presented in Figure 6, enables single-click annotating, copying, printing, and a host of other handy features.
Figure 6 Help Popup Menu Displayed with Secondary Mouse Click
Again, this is designed to save you time and effort. Personally, I find it easier to click anywhere in a dialog box than to aim for a button. Maybe you have a better aim.
Thus far I've highlighted some of the major tasks secondary clicking facilitates. The following table will give you a quick glance at these tips as well as offer some other shortcuts you're sure to find handy:
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If you want to: Then secondary click the (a):
Close a task Task's Taskbar button and select
close.
Disconnect from a server Server's location icon in the
Explorer and select disconnect.
Minimize, cascade or tile all open Blank space on the Taskbar and
windows select the appropriate option.
View an object's properties Object and select Properties.
Create an object shortcut Object and select Create Shortcut.
View context-sensitive Help in a Spot in the respective dialog box.
dialog box
Print text in a Help dialog box Spot in the Help dialog box.
If you want to try other shortcuts Then secondary click the (a):
like:
Customize the desktop (for example, Spot on the desktop and select
change the screen resolution, Properties or another menu option,
arrange the icons in a certain contingent on what you wish to do.
spatial order, change the
wallpaper, change the display
properties)
Test a screensaver Spot on the desktop, select
Properties, and click the Settings
tab.
Send a specific object on the Object, select Send To, and choose
desktop to a specific locale, like the appropriate option.
a 3 1/2" floppy or 5 1/4" floppy
One of the primary motivations in developing Windows 95 was to allow you to carry out tasks in as many different ways as possible: one of the many choices is sure to suit your working habits. The Taskbar, the Explorer, shortcuts, and the backwards compatibility, which maintains such features as 'Alt-Tabbing' and the File Manager, all are examples of how the Windows 95 team is serving to its diverse, multi-talented user base. The secondary mouse button is just one more feature that narrows the gap between the power user and the beginner, allowing us all to work more efficiently and confidently.
Michael Meulemans
Technical Editor
Microsoft TechNet
April 1995
Volume 3, Issue 4
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