I owned a Microsoft Windows PC for two years before I did the right thing. You've probably noticed that your computer mouse has two buttons - the one on the left (left mouse button) that you click all the time with your pointer finger, and another one next to it on the right (right mouse button). I had never questioned what the right button on my mouse was for, and now I can't live without it. Your right mouse button can quickly and easily provide menus of different options while you are surfing the Web.

Macintosh users can access all the same right-mouse-click windows by clicking with their mouse and simultaneously pressing the Ctrl key on their keyboard.

Let's say you are looking for a particular piece of clipart for a newsletter you are writing, and you come across the perfect graphic image on a free clipart web site. How do you get that graphic saved on your computer so that you can insert it into your newsletter?

Right click! Point your mouse to the image, and click the right mouse button. A menu appears when you right click on the image. There are many options on the menu, but in this particular situation, I want to save the image for later use, so I will choose "Save Picture As," in Internet Explorer and save it to a folder where I will be able to find it later easily.

It works the same way in Netscape, but Netscape offers a few more menu choices. As in Internet Explorer, I want to save the image for future use, so in this case I'll select "Save Image As". Same function, just different choice of words.

Experiment with some of the other menu options that appear when you right click on an image. Remember - it's virtually impossible to "break" your computer, so spend some time exploring these options! Different menus will appear when you right click on Web site text using either Internet Explorer or Netscape. Some of the choices are already available as icons at the top of your Web browser. The Right Click option simply gives you another quick and easy way to access these functions.

What else can you find behind the right mouse button? For example, want a friend to see a Web page? When you right click on Web site text in Netscape, the menu that appears includes a "Send Page" option. Simply right click anywhere on the text, choose "Send Page," and an e-mail window with the Web address of this page will be automatically configured for you - pretty nifty, isn't it?

There are many other options that are available with the right mouse button.

Experiment and see what new tricks you can learn by doing the right thing! Note: The right mouse button is not only for use with browser software - try it out with your other software programs as well!

Michelle Swartz's column appears in the Personal Technology section of Wednesday's Royal Gazette. She welcomes questions and can be contacted by e-mail at michellechristers.net