Internet

Double-Click

One of the harder things for beginners to keep track of is when to click and when to double-click. In general, once you are online, you will almost never double-click. By far, the most frequent use of the double-click is to open an application on your desktop or from a folder. If you’re not sure when to use click and when to use double-click, try click and see if anything happens. If not, you can always double-click.

HOW TO DO IT

1. Position the pointer over the item you want to double-click.

2. Press and release the left button twice in rapid succession.

Here are some potential problems with double-clicking. Some people try to double-click so fast that they don't really release the button. You must click and release the button twice. Usually people who have problems double-clicking don't click fast enough. Instead of a double-click, the computer interpret this as two separate clicks.

I Just Can't Double-Click

Personally, I hate double-clicking. It makes my finger sore. Most people have no problem with it at all. But if you have problems, there are two things that you may want to think about. First, you can slow down the double-click. Second, you can reassign the buttons on your mouse.

One word of caution. We are about to go into an area of your computer that can dramatically change the way your computer operates. Do not randomly make changes in the Control Panel unless you are very sure of the results. When in doubt, don't do anything.

Still feeling brave? Don't worry; it's hard to mess up your mouse. Let's take a look.

HOW TO DO IT

Click on the Start Menu Button
Move the pointer up to Settings
Slide the pointer over to Control Panel on the sub menu

Click Control Panel
Double-Click the Mouse Icon (or click it once and press enter)

Click on the tab that says Buttons
(The picture you see may differ from the picture below. It should look like your mouse.)
Click on the Options button

Here you will find a way to speed up or slow down the speed necessary for the mouse to decide if you wanted to click two different times or perform a double-click. There is also a test. If you double-click the hand, the mouse will fall out of it.

Since I don't like double-clicking at all, I have one of the fancy mice with a thumb click. Then I reassigned button 4 (in the figure above) to be the same thing as a double-click. Now, when I hit the thumb click once, the computer thinks I double-clicked.