"Right button click" with a touchpad - how?

A few months ago i got a netbook (Acer Aspire One), which has a touchpad that i normally don’t use since at home i have a large keyboard and a two-button mouse connected to the machine. When i am traveling, however, i have to use the touchpad - and i have no idea how to get any right-button functionality. Can anybody tell me how?

Hold the ‘ctrl’ button down while doing a regular click.

Have tried that more than once (have also tried that with other buttons) - no luck. That’s why i’m asking…

Press the upper or lower right corner of the touchpad. That should give you a right click.

The surface is metallic and doesn’t move - pressing/holding a finger anywhere on the pad does nothing. :frowning:

Oh… i found it! There is a plastic bar at the edge of the touchpad, and i had pressed that many times before with no result (i realize why: i must have always pressed it in the middle). I just (accidentally) pressed it at the edge while experimenting and noticed it moves. :doh: Problem solved, it seems… sorry to have wasted your time. :bow:

That’s good-to-know stuff.

I thought that plastic bar was a decoration - not used to non-Mac touchpads… :doh:

A wireless mouse is a nice thing to have. :sunglasses:

When not traveling i turn the netbook into a desktop machine by connecting a USB mouse, a USB keyboard, and a 1600x900 monitor. How does a wireless mouse work? I mean, does it connect to the computer’s built in wireless or do you need an additional mouse adapter that you plug into a USB port, for example?

It’s just a little USB stub. A few years ago a wireless mouse was a pain, but now they usually connect right up automatically.

It does on my touchpad. For example, tapping the touchpad is equivalent to a mouse click.

But then again, I use a mouse. I hate touchpads.

Well, a mouse is by far my preference, too, but when on the road i am stuck with the touchpad, so i’d better know how to make it work for me. :wink:

I see… and the way prices are going, my next mouse and keyboard might posibly also be wireless…

It should be the right bottom corner. You also can set up most PC touch pads these days to emulate a Mac: tap with two fingers to get right click. Look in the mouse control panel or on the right hand side of the Windows start bar.

A good touchpad with good multi-touch support is, IMO, way faster than a mouse, when the touch pad is paired with good software. There are a number of good ones these days from Dell,Acer,etc. Just look for big, smooth surface and good multi-touch support. The best are the glass trackpads on the MacBooks/Mackbook Pros, both because they are huge and ultra-responsive, but also because the three and four-finger gestures the size of the trackpad allows are fully built in to OSX and allow blazing fast workflows by using Spaces and Expose together. I and many of my colleagues dumped a mouse sometime last year when the usefulness of the glass trackpads became apparent.