How to Operate Your Computer Without a Mouse

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By Hakeem Sa'id

How to Operate Your Computer Without a Mouse

Last night, we found ourselves in an unexpected situation: we went to use our desktop computer and discovered that our mouse had vanished! We immediately remembered bringing the mouse to school for a presentation but leaving it there overnight. What were we to do, though? Our laptop was also at school, leaving us with nothing but our iPhone. It was certainly a paralyzing sensation! But only for a short time. We instantly conducted some study and discovered fantastic methods for controlling your computer solely from your keyboard in the event of such a disaster.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, we should say it would be beneficial to keep a spare mouse laying around the house. Just like that extra toilet paper hidden under the sink for that emergency situation, an extra mouse could be a crucial addition to a well functioning workspace. If you have roommates or a family this is less likely to be an issue.

To start, lets mention the most general (and perhaps obvious) shortcut keys on the keyboard which will help you increase productivity on a daily basis if you learn to adopt them. Here is the full, official list provided by Apple for keyboard shortcuts and here are the shortcut keys for Windows users.

By law, all operating systems must be fully functional without using a mouse. This is thanks to Universal Access rights for people who are only able to use a keyboard. Knowing this, we can figure out how to enable what is called Mouse Keys on a Mac or a PC. Mouse Keys is a program which allows you to use the numeric keypad to adjust the motion of the cursor as you would a standard mouse.

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