Everyone has probably figured out that I have a fondness for keyboard shortcuts. My computing experience would be seriously impaired without being able to Cut, Copy, and Paste by typing Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V, respectively. (Not to mention, Ctrl+Z, the Undo command!)
However, right after keyboard shortcuts, my next favorite shortcut is the right mouse button. Every version of Windows since Windows 95 has supported the right mouse button. For years, the stupid thing didn’t do anything, but these days if you click the right mouse button, you get a "context sensitive" menu. Context sensitive means that the menu options change depending on where you are in a program or in Windows itself when you right-click.
For example, if I right-click on an empty area of my Windows desktop, I can rearrange my icons. Or choose Properties to change the appearance of my display. Alternatively, if I right-click over the Taskbar, I can choose which toolbars display or choose Properties to change how my Start menu and Taskbar behave. In other words, Windows "knows" where I’m right-clicking and shows me a menu based on where I am. That’s some spiffy programming, if you ask me.
Right clicking works in other programs too. For example, in Microsoft Word, if you highlight some text and then right click, you see the cut, copy, and paste editing options along with options font and paragraph settings. In PowerPoint, if you right click over a text box or picture, you can change innumerable options, such as borders, fills, and placement.
One shortcut I use all the time while surfing the Web, is right clicking on a link. You have an option of opening the link in a new window. This way, you can go through a whole list of links really quickly. Because you aren’t leaving the list page, you don’t end up spending lots of time using the Back key. In fact, on news sites, I go through the list of headlines and open the ones I want to read in new Windows. I don’t spend time waiting for things to download because by the time I’ve opened the last page, the first one is done downloading and I can start reading.
Those are just a few of the ways I use the right mouse button. The next time you are trying to find a command in a Windows program, try right-clicking. You might find a whole new list of options awaiting you.