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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
June 1,
2008
Q.
On my computer I have to double click
anything to get it to open, but on my
friend's computer he only has to click it
once. How can I get this one click setting?
A.
This is one of those little things that I
think makes using a computer easier. It is
also something that I set up almost without
thinking about it. However, by default,
Windows XP and Vista do not have this single
click setting but always installs it with
the double click required. Here's how to set
up the single click.
Since
most of us are pretty familiar with clicking
links in web sites or email, which are
always single clicks, it is sometimes
advantageous to do the same thing id Windows
itself.
First,
the easiest way to know immediately if you
have the single or double click settings is
to look at the cursor when you place it over
a filename or icon. If it stays as an arrow,
it is double click, but if it changes to a
little hand with the index finger extended,
it is set to single click.
In XP,
Open My Computer, click Tools, Folder
Options, then the General tab and this
dialog is displayed.
In the
last section you make the single or double
click settings. Note that when you select
the single option, you have two other
choices as to how the item is underlined. I
prefer to underline it only when I place the
cursor on it. If you select
"......consistent with my browser",
everything that can be opened with a single
click will be underlined all the time.
To do
this same thing in Vista, Open Computer,
click Organize, Folder and Search Options,
then the General tab. This similar dialog
will display.
The
settings for Vista are similar to those
described above for XP.
One word
of caution should you change to single
click. If you have been using the double
click setting for a while, you probably have
become accustomed to clicking once to just
select an item. When the single click option
is set, all you have to do is place the
cursor on it to select it. It may take some
getting used to before you remember to not
click to select the item but just hold the
mouse pointer over it.
Should
you later decide you want the double click
setting back it is easily done. |
