Windows 7 Preview: Navigate by Touch Screen

With Windows 7 and a touch-screen monitor you can just touch your computer screen for a more direct and natural way to work. Use your fingers or a pointing device to scroll, resize windows, play media, and pan and zoom.

The Start menu, Windows Taskbar, and Windows Explorer are touch-friendly, with larger icons that are easier to select with your finger. Browsing the Web with Internet Explorer 8 is easier too—just use your finger to scroll down a Web page or browse your favorite links. You can even use your finger to arrange the pictures in a photo album.

Find out more about Windows 7

Microsoft employee Mike LaManna was surprised to find few adaptive solutions for special needs children who had trouble using computer mice. Using creativity, trial and error, and some helpful coworkers, LaManna set out to change that.

The collaborative effort produced a simple and effective design involving a plastic toy ring fastened near the back of the left button on a small, laptop-sized computer mouse. It allows children with dexterity issues to keep their fingers on the mouse button—and it more easily fits a child-sized hand.

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Quick Tip: Find Program Shortcuts

You can do things in most programs by using the keyboard. To see which commands have keyboard shortcuts, open a menu. The shortcuts (if available) are shown next to the menu items.

Get lists of keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft products