Ch 2: LOOKING AT COMPUTERS: UNDERSTANDING THE PARTS
USING INPUT DEVICES
Cheat Sheet
A. Mice
Mice are devices you use to input data into a computer. There are many types of mice:
1. Standard Rollerball Mouse: Contains a rollerball. To clean a rollerball mouse, turn the mouse over and remove the rollerball by turning the surrounding disk. Gently brush out the inside area and clean the rollers and the rollerball using a cotton swab dampened in rubbing alcohol.
2. Wireless Mouse: Uses batteries and sends data to the computer via radio or light waves.
3. Optical Mouse: Uses an internal laser to control the mouse’s movement.
4. Trackball Mouse: Is basically a traditional mouse that has been turned on its back.
5. Laptop Mice: On laptops, the mouse is built into the keyboard through a touchpad or trackpoint.

B. Keyboards
1. Standard keyboards use the QWERTY keyboard layout, which gets its name from the first six letters on the top-left row of keys.
2. The Dvorak keyboard is the leading alternative keyboard, which puts the most commonly used letters in English on the keys in the middle row of the keyboard.
3. Ergonomic keyboards are curved and contain built-in wrist rests to minimize strain on wrists.
4. There are two types of wireless keyboards: those that use infrared light waves and those that use radio frequency (RF) technology. RF keyboards are considered superior because they don’t require that you point the keyboard at the receiver for it to work.
5. Some newer PDAs feature miniature keyboards integrated into the front of the PDA. Small folding keyboards can also be attached to some PDAs.

C. Special Keyboard Keys
1. Function keys act as shortcut keys you press to perform special tasks.
2. The Control key and the Alt key are used with other keys to perform tasks.
3. The Windows key is specific to the Windows operating system.
4. Multimedia and Internet keys/buttons enable you to open a Web browser, view e-mail, access Help features, or control your CD/DVD player.
5. The cursor control keys move your cursor.
6. Some keys move the cursor up or down one full page or to the beginning (Home) or end (End) of a line. The Delete (Del) key allows you to delete characters, whereas the Insert key allows you to insert or overwrite characters within a document.