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Old 09-01-2002, 04:14 PM   #11
David_Jones
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Join Date: May 2000
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 546
Ditch That Mouse And Work Smarter / Faster

I always use this as a convenience (I hate to have to take my hands off the keyboard - it slows down your workrate to a snails pace).

Additional notes:

Press 0 to hold down the left mouse button, and DEL (both on the numeric pad) to release the left mouse button (try it to see what I mean - it is obvious once you do).

My standard setting is to have the numeric pad locked on (NumLock turned on) at boot up, and the mouse-keys setting such that turning off the numlock feature activates mouse-keys.

In addition, I always use the keybord within applications (Alt normally activates the menus, and single key-strokes to access menu items). This always ends up working much better and faster than stabbing away with the mouse. It also has the advantage of being accurate and positive (against the analogue nature of the mouse).

A good example that always manages to frustrate me is watching someone attempt to select an area in Excel with the mouse. They click the top left cell (usually) with no problem and then shoot around the screen, back and forth, up and down, trying to get to the exact cell in the bottom right hand corner without overshooting when Excel accelerates. Using the keyboard, they would be there in a second or less.

I (almost) guarantee that if you try it for a week or two, and persevere through the initial learning period you will never go back to using that mouse thing again, and you'll save some armache / OOUS symptoms!!

Hope that helps,

David.

Last edited by David_Jones; 09-01-2002 at 04:21 PM.
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