Mouse Clix

By: Hobie Lunin

What could go wrong?

Well, as a teacher who sees many new students, I can say that there is always something that can go wrong. I often hear, “I didn’t do anything, it just happened by itself.” Frankly folks, the operator of the computer is the person who makes something happen that creates a problem. Other students say, “what did I do wrong?” That is more to the point, but it can be an accident or not having your mouse skills developed.

Here is one I hear frequently. “The task bar, that used to be on the bottom, is now on the side. How did that happen?” This is because the person holding the mouse moved the cursor across the screen while their finger was pressing the left mouse button. They have “dragged” the task bar to a new location. It will still work that way and some people prefer it. To get it back, however, move your cursor to a blank place on the taskbar and press the left button. Holding it down, move your hand as if to drag it to the position across the bottom. The taskbar will not follow it as if you were dragging a card in Solitaire. What you will see when you get the cursor close to the bottom of the screen and stop moving the mouse, is a faint line that appears horizontally above it, like it is the edge of the bar. When you lift your finger from the button, the task bar will appear there. “What if I see the bar and it is suddenly very wide.” Put you cursor on the edge of the taskbar, closest to the center of the screen, until you see it turn into a double arrow, then press the left button and drag the edge to where it should be and then let the button up.

“I think I smelled some smoke and now the screen is all pink.” The monitor is shot. Most techies do not repair monitors. If yours is in warranty, take it to the store.”

“I keep getting a message that I am ‘running low on resources’ when I run a certain program. What should I do?” You need to check and see what programs are running from your task bar. Perhaps you have downloaded a special little program from the Internet, e.g., WeatherBug. Turn it off, and then see if you still get that message. If you do and you are running only 16MB or 32MB RAM you may want to upgrade to 64MB or higher. Check the requirements for that program by looking on the box it came in.

Here is one I get frequently. “My cursor disappeared.” This could be that someone accidentally loosened the mouse plug from the back of the computer. If that is the case, you will have to reboot after you get it plugged back in. Sometimes the mouse ball or mouse pad has gotten grease on it and has left your cursor off the screen and will not bring it back. Try taking the cover off the bottom of the mouse and then cleaning the ball. Blow out the inside when the ball is out. Run your fingers over the internal rollers and see if you see the cursor then and check that it moves in both directions. Clean the ball and replace the cover. If the pad is greasy or dirty, get a new one. You may need a new mouse if none of the above works.

“I can’t see my mail when I open my mail program.” Remember to scroll down so you can see the whole page.

“My e-mail program is not recognizing my user name (or password).” Your user name is the part before the @ sign, not your whole e-mail address. Your password is just that, it is different from your “security word” if your e-mail server has assigned you one. The password is case sensitive. You may have had your Caps Lock button on when you typed it.

“When I am typing, if I press the ‘e’ key, I get an ‘r’ ”. The keyboard probably has had some liquid dropped on it. Borrow another keyboard and try it out. If that one works OK, buy a new keyboard for yourself.

“A folder I had in Word just disappeared.” You probably accidentally saved it in another folder. Look in all the other folders in the same program or use the find utility that appears in the Start menu.

“I just accidentally deleted a very important file, how do I recover it?” First, look for it in the Recycle Bin. If it is there, highlight it; click on File and then on Restore. If it is not there, try using the Find utility. If it still does not appear, do not panic. Close down your computer and do not let anyone use it. When you delete something from the hard drive, it really is not deleted. The computer just tells itself that it is now OK to use that area on the disk for other work being saved. This is why you want to avoid using the computer until you can purchase or download a data recovery disk suitable for your Operating System and then follow the instructions.

“There was an icon on the screen (desktop) and now it is gone.” You accidentally dragged it to the recycle bin. Look for it there or make a new one. Look in the help index under Icons.

“Suddenly I am no longer getting any sound.” You may have inadvertently hit the mute button. Normally that button appears when you click the speaker icon on the task bar, however some computers have a mute button on the keyboard. Make sure the speakers are turned on and the volume is turned up.

Sure, things can go wrong!

Hobie Lunin is a Computer Instructor and Consultant. He can be reached at mouseclix2@yahoo.com