damn, my mouse is broken

[stevie]

ok, so i have a wireless mouse that runs on batteries, its not working, the light is on but when i move it the pointer on the screen doesnt move...

yeah, well i thought i was doomed, but then i miraculously realised i can navigate and do just about anything just with the keyboard

thats right, i navigated all the way here, and posted a message with just my keyboard.

anyway, looks like ill have to oder a new mouse...with my keyboard

its a real pain in the ass, but i am slowly able to do stuff

so anyway, what can be done with the keyboard alone?

any shortcuts? im not too knowledgable about it

basically i just need adivice on how to do stuff as economically as possible

k

[Waldszenen]

Sucks to be you

Sorry I can't be of more help

*evil chuckle*

[stevie]

you realise it took me about 5 minutes to get in here to open this thread to see what you said, then another couple minutes to hit the 'reply button'

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok so the TAB button changes the thing i am highlighting, kinda like pointing the mouse over something

but it only works one way, and if i skip something i have to cycle through every single selectable thing on the page again, how can i go back?

[stevie]

ah i figured it out

shift+tab does the reverse!

ok

[xvimbi]

I personally like doing as much as possible with the keyboard - much less stress on the little wrists that way, and much faster, too. Give it some time, and you'll be able to reduce your time from five minutes to a few seconds. I have seen people navigate through the weirdest stuff with blazing speed. There is little difference to playing The Flight Of The Bumblebee; those people are masters of the keyboard. It requires a very fast mind, just like piano playing.

Anyway, wireless mice (and similar items) often simply lose their connection. Try unplugging the receivers, rebooting the machine, switching off and on the mouse itself (there are usually buttons for reestablishing the connection), change the batteries, .... READ THE MANUAL...

BTW, you have never mentioned what OS you are using. If you are using Mac OS, there is a whole technology built in to facilitate using the machine with all kinds of impairments. If you are using Windows, you are simply SOL (kidding), if you are using any of the other mainstream Unix's (other than Mac OS X), you'll find fewer keyboard shortcuts.

[stevie]

naturally i have booted, rebooted, changed batteries, connected, reconnected, still refuses to work.

the manual might be a little hard to find

but anyway, thihas happened before, and im gonna learn a lesson - always have a back-up mouse(a wired one)

im using windows XP, and yes it would be nice to do everything with the keyboard but i am virtually lost without my beloved mouse!

the main programs i use are internet explorer, windows media player, and msn messenger

anywhere i can find out how to navigate those easier?

[xvimbi]

im using windows XP, and yes it would be nice to do everything with the keyboard but i am virtually lost without my beloved mouse!

the main programs i use are internet explorer, windows media player, and msn messenger

You should add Google to that. Searching with "windows XP keyboard shortcuts" results in 674,000 hits. Have fun!

[Bouter Boogie]

Well, here's an idea.. Buy yourself a new one

[pion]

https://www.gigglechick.com/erin/blog/NewMouse.WMV

[pianistimo]

that's too funny!  i'm showing that to my son, who has done in at least two mice (mouses?) of the computer variety.  once he replaced a cell battery and that helped for a little while.

[pseudopianist]

found this one out a while ago alt+arrow

[leahcim]

so anyway, what can be done with the keyboard alone?
any shortcuts? im not too knowledgable about it

At one time, in principle, everything should have been possible - these days "a computer with a suitable pointing device" is part of the requirements on the box, so it might not be as rigidly enforced.

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q301583
https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q126449

I'd be surprised if you couldn't find something that would make the arrow keys / numeric keypad function as a mouse - in fact, thinking about it - isn't one of the accessibility options in XP exactly that? Mouse keys or something?

edit : https://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/mousekeys.aspx

[stevie]

ah thanks!

but my mum just bought me a mouse! and it works!