The famous Microsoft Double Click. Computer users across the globe have become accustomed to double clicking on EVERYTHING! It’s like we were born a bred to double click on a computer; quite frankly I don’t ever remember being taught to do this. It was instinctual Seriously though, many computer beginners, novices, and even intermediates still do not know where they should be double clicking, and where they should be single clicking. Well, today we are going to make things a whole lot simpler. It is a little known fact that Microsoft has provided the option to single click where you would otherwise have double clicked. We are going to walk through the simple process of setting this up on a Windows XP / Vista based machine. I think this option is great for seniors who sometimes do not have great finger dexterity. Heck, it makes life easier for everybody - Even I use the single click option!

To setup the single click option, follow the steps below:

1) Click the “Start” button
2) Click Control Panel
3) Make sure you are viewing your Control Panel in Classic View mode. If you see an icon called Folder Options, then you are in Classic View mode. If you cannot see the Folder Options icon, you can switch to Classic View mode by clicking the option from the vertical toolbar on the left side of the screen. Double click on the Folder Options icon.
4) Click on the small circle beside “single-click to open an item (point to select)”
5) IF you see an option called “Underline icon titles only when I point at them” then click on the small circle beside that option. Otherwise, proceed to Step 6.

6) Click the OK button

Thats it you are now done! Where you once had to double click an icon to start the application, you now only have to single click. Where you once had to single click an icon to select the application, you now only have to hover your mouse cursor over the icon. Brilliant!

Unfortunately, there will still be rare times where you must double click to execute an application. An example of this is when you open an application from the Windows System Tray (the icons right beside the clock in the bottom right corner). For the most part, you will still have to double click these icons in the System Tray. But other than that, double clicking will the the exception, and not the rule.

Finally the double clicking nonsense will be a thing of the past. Once you switch to the single clicking option, you will never go back!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Operating Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.