5.1. | Help! KMouseTool keeps dropping spurious clicks all over the screen! |
|
When you are using KMouseTool, you do have to learn new mousing habits.
First,
keep in mind where it's safe to click — clicking on gray parts of windows or non-link
areas of web browsers won't hurt anything, so you can safely rest the mouse over those areas
until you need it.
Second, you need to know where you're going to click before you move
the mouse. Most of the time, when we know we're going to use the mouse, most of
us grab the mouse and start moving it around randomly until we figure out where
we want to click. With KMouseTool, you need to know where you're going to click
before you move the mouse in the first place. It is also a good idea to keep
your hands off the mouse when you're not using it.
|
5.2. | My mouse sticks when I move it. Can I still use KMouseTool? |
| Yes. If your mouse sticks, it means you need to clean your mouse.
This is usually easy to do; the trick is that you have to clean not just the
mouse's ball, but the rollers that the ball rolls against inside the mouse. First, you have to remove the ball. The method for doing this varies from
mouse to mouse, but it's usually pretty clear how to do this if you look at
the bottom of the mouse. Once you've removed the ball, you should be able to see the rollers on the
sides of the hole that contained the ball. The dirt and grime on them can be
easily scraped off with a flat blade or with a fingernail. |
5.3. | KMouseTool clicks down and never clicks up. What's happening? |
| In some rare situations, the system suspends KMouseTool when a drag
starts; if you are using Smart Drag, this means that KMouseTool can never finish the drag by
clicking up.
This happens when you use KMouseTool under a non KDE window manager and then
use it to move a window.
The solution is to simply click manually; this resets KMouseTool, and you can then
continue to work normally again. |
5.4. |
KMouseTool moves the cursor when I am trying to type. |
| Problem: When you're typing text, KMouseTool keeps
dropping clicks and moving the cursor away from where you want to type. Solution: Use the mouse to place the cursor where you want it, but when you're ready
to type, park the mouse on a neutral area on the screen. Then, if you
bump the mouse, or if it moves a few pixels, any random clicks that it sends
won't matter. Safe places to park the mouse include the gray areas
around toolbars and menus, and on the title bars of windows. |
5.5. | I'm trying to use Smart Drag, but I cannot get the hang of using it to edit text. |
|
Smart Drag is an advanced feature of KMouseTool, and takes some getting used to. It is very
possible to use it to select text, to cut and paste, and use it in almost any situation
where you would normally want to drag the mouse. But you probably won't be able to do this
at first. Here are some suggestions:
Don't use Smart Drag while you are first learning to use KMouseTool. Instead,
to select text, click at one end of the text, and hold down
the shift key while you click at the other end of the text.
Use the Audible Click. This will play a “click” sound when KMouseTool clicks
down, and this will tell you when the Smart Drag delay is beginning. With practice, you
can use Smart Drag without the Audible Click, but it does take a fair amount of practice.
Know where you're going to click the mouse before you begin moving it.
|
Questions and Answers