Can I disable the right mouse button (special case for elderly person)

  • Thread starter Thread starter James Bond
  • Start date Start date
J

James Bond

Hello. My very elderly father has decided to buy his first computer.
Due to his age (and I suspect a lack of playing pong as a kid like I did)
he lacks the manual dexterity to use a mouse well. He frequently
accidentally hits the right button instead of the left. This, of course
causes a context menu to appear which greatly confuses him (that may seem
strange to some of you, but try to envision how steep the learning curve
is for a 80+ year old person who has *never* used a computer before). He
also occasionally hits the middle button (wheel) also creating confusing
effects for him.

Now he is slowly getting better with practice, but the frustration level
is high for him, threatening to ruin the whole thing for him. Since he
is not really doing anything that requires him to use the right button, I
would like to simply disable it, or perhaps even better, make it operate
the same as the left button. But I cannot figure out how to do that. I
was wondering if there was a registry hack that could do that. Any help
or suggestions for alternate solutions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

James
 
Now he is slowly getting better with practice, but the frustration level
is high for him, threatening to ruin the whole thing for him. Since he
is not really doing anything that requires him to use the right button, I
would like to simply disable it, or perhaps even better, make it operate
the same as the left button. But I cannot figure out how to do that. I
was wondering if there was a registry hack that could do that. Any help
or suggestions for alternate solutions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

James
Click to expand...

Control Panel, Mouse.

You can set what each button does including 'None'

Andy
 
Hi James,

Actually, I find that the elderly folks are the best learners, they love to
learn and are less resistant to "new" things than those in middle age who
are generally resist any change in their routine.

Check the control panel/mouse options. If the proper driver set is
installed, you should be able to set each button on the mouse (including the
wheel) to do the same thing (act like the left click button). If the options
are not there, check with the manufacturer for a mouse driver update.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
Rick said:
Hi James,

Actually, I find that the elderly folks are the best learners, they love to
learn and are less resistant to "new" things than those in middle age who
are generally resist any change in their routine.

Check the control panel/mouse options. If the proper driver set is
installed, you should be able to set each button on the mouse (including the
wheel) to do the same thing (act like the left click button). If the options
are not there, check with the manufacturer for a mouse driver update.
Click to expand...
Using Microsoft mouse drivers, I don't think there is a way to do that.
I know that the logitech drivers allow you to setup the functions for
each button, and I beleive you can disable the button through there.
 
are not there, check with the manufacturer for a mouse driver update.
Using Microsoft mouse drivers, I don't think there is a way to do that.
I know that the logitech drivers allow you to setup the functions for
each button, and I beleive you can disable the button through there.
Click to expand...

I use Microsoft mouse drivers and can do it.

Andy
 
Rick said:
Hi James,

Actually, I find that the elderly folks are the best learners, they
love to learn and are less resistant to "new" things than those in
middle age who are generally resist any change in their routine.

Check the control panel/mouse options. If the proper driver set is
installed, you should be able to set each button on the mouse
(including the wheel) to do the same thing (act like the left click
button). If the options are not there, check with the manufacturer for
a mouse driver update.
Click to expand...
You might also want to look into getting him a trackball mouse; a lot of
elderly people prefer them because they don't require the steady manual
dexterity that a regular mouse does.

Malke
 
Hi James,

Actually, I find that the elderly folks are the best learners, they
love to learn and are less resistant to "new" things than those in
middle age who are generally resist any change in their routine.

Check the control panel/mouse options. If the proper driver set is
installed, you should be able to set each button on the mouse
(including the wheel) to do the same thing (act like the left click
button). If the options are not there, check with the manufacturer for
a mouse driver update.
Click to expand...

Hmm, thanks for all the replies. He is currently using the standard
mouse driver that WinXP Home installs. Apparently, these options are not
available using these drivers. He bought a gateway computer so the OS
was preinstalled. I also am using the standard driver on my computer and
do not have these options available from control panel either.

But I will check with gateway and see if there are any other drivers
available that might do the trick. Thanks for the help.
 
Hmm, thanks for all the replies. He is currently using the standard
mouse driver that WinXP Home installs. Apparently, these options are not
available using these drivers. He bought a gateway computer so the OS
was preinstalled. I also am using the standard driver on my computer and
do not have these options available from control panel either.

But I will check with gateway and see if there are any other drivers
available that might do the trick. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I have the Intellimouse drivers/software installed for my MS mouse
(Explorer Trackball). It adds the settings for assigning functions to the
buttons and scroll wheel.

PS: Recommend playing Minesweeper helps to get a user more comfortable with
right and left clicking. Solitaire is a good one for practicing left click
and drag/drop.
 
I am a Computer Instructor at a local Technology School. A year ago, I had
an elderly student whose hand was shaking so bad she couldn't maintain a
steady pointer onscreen. After we switched to a trackball, she was able to
work the computer a lot better. Go to any good computer store where they
have lots of trackballs on display. Play with them until he finds one he is
comfortable with.

C.E. Jones
 
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