eBay

pocomocomputing · ‎01-19-2016

I read a tip in the eBay.com forum just recently that you can use your computer wheel mouse button to open a new browser tab when you hover over a link instead of using right click on the link to bring up a menu and select Open in a new tab.

Real time saver. Simple, easy to use, actually useful several times a day. I use it a lot now as before I would right click on a link to see a menu and select from the menu "Open a new tab in my browser".

I just have a simple Microsoft Mouse with regular left, right click buttons and the scroll wheel with click button. So this tip may only work with some mice.

I once had a wireless Logitech mouse with a lot more buttons (on the side of the mouse) which used to confuse the heck out of me with all the buttons. I was forever clicking a side button bumping into something on my desk and going backwards out of the Sell Your Item form and losing a new or revised listing. So I went back to a simple mouse.

Just thought I would post this tip about middle click on a browser link. I can't believe I did not know this. But it is the best computer tip (simple and useful every day) I learned in a long time. I knew the middle button did some things but never anything practical and useful as far as I knew.

I did a Google search on using the wheel mouse scroll wheel and click. Here is a link to an interesting article on other things to use the middle mouse click button for. (safe link despite the hacker in the link URL)

http://lifehacker.com/the-many-things-you-can-do-with-a-middle-click-on-your-1565756062

Your browser—whether it's Firefox, Chrome, or even Internet Explorer—makes better use of the middle mouse button than anything else. With it, you can:

Close a tab by middle-clicking on the tab
Open a link in a new tab by middle-clicking on the link (this also works in the address bar's drop-down menu and back and forward buttons)
Open all bookmarks in a folder at once by middle-clicking on the folder in your bookmarks bar
Enable auto-scroll by middle-clicking on a web page
Paste text in Firefox with a middle click, by enabling the middlemouse.paste option in about:config

PS if you find this tip useful, post back. If you have some other helpful computer tips, post them too. Make this topic a learning topic.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-19-2016

Thanks poco. Any suggestions on what to do if the wheel won't do anything at all? I haven't been able to scroll with it for a few months now.

pocomocomputing · ‎01-19-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Thanks poco. Any suggestions on what to do if the wheel won't do anything at all? I haven't been able to scroll with it for a few months now.

I assume it is an older mouse. Most likely the wheel has carried in dust which accumulated over time. The way the mouse wheel works is very interesting. The wheel inside has spokes and a LED light shines through to a receiver and how fast the wheel goes breaking the light generates a signal to the computer. If this wheel well get all full of dust no signal is sent. If there is enough dust, the wheel may just stop turning.

Google is your best friend on how to do something.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=how+to+fix+a+wheel+mouse+dirty&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=JbSeVoj...

You may find one for your mouse. Finding the screws is hard.

I have cleaned many mice, with or without scroll wheels. Scroll wheel mice are a bit hard to do because you don't want to mess up the wheel in its socket.

I had an older (5 years) Logitech mouse that acted up a month ago with the scroll wheel acting up too. I opened it up and full of dust. Sadly, I could not clean it well enough. It still acted up. I had a new old stock Microsoft Mouse I had bought as backup mouse 4 years ago and never used. That is my current mouse.

So you may or may not be able to clean it. If it does not work, mice are relatively inexpensive so getting a new mouse is an option. Or just not use the scroll wheel.