Xah Lee, 2009-06, 2011-01, 2011-06-23
This page shows you how to setup Windows to switch windows without clicking, and single-click to open files instead of double-click. The tips are tested in Windows Vista, but should work for Windows 7 too.
You can make single-click to open files instead of double-click.
Folder Options
To set it up, go to “Control Panel”, then “Folder Options”.
The single-click behavior is similar to web browsing.
At first you may find it annoying. I first tried it for few days, got annoyed, switched back to normal double click. But after a month, i went to single-click again, and this time stick with it. Now i've been using single-click for almost a year, am happy with it.
Single-click also has the advantage of automatically selecting the file when mouse hovers on it. It really saves you a lot clicks.
To select multiple files, hold down Ctrl and click.
You can also turn on a check box visual indicator.
Folder Options: “Use check boxes to select items”.
Another great feature is window auto-raise (aka auto-focus). This way, you don't have to click the window to activate it, just hover mouse over it.
To turn this on, go to “Control Panel”, then “Ease of Access Center”, then click “Make the mouse easier to use”, then checkbox “Activate a window by hovering over it with a mouse.”, click Save.
I like this feature very much. However, it takes some time to get used to.
One problem is that if you moved your mouse carelessly, some background window pops to the front. You can quickly go back to your previous window by 【Alt+Tab】. However, it is especially annoying when the window you are working on is a small dialog that just popped up while you are moving the mouse. You can't switch back to the dialog because it's not a window or app. You have to fish it out.
Auto-raise is especially good if you are a trackball or trackpad user. (See: Best Trackball Mouse.) Because trackball are less likely to move the pointer unnecessarily.
For me, over all i still like auto-raise. After a while, you learned not to touch your mouse when you don't need to.