This is something that only struck me the other day…. why do we double click to open things like jackasses? What possible use / advantage does it have over a single click? None that i can think of!
With single click enabled (just like hyperlinks), you can still drag icons around the screen and not open them. However a single left click will open the folder or program.
After some toying around, i figured out how to remove double clicking in Windows Vista and enable hyperlink-like single clicks;
- Windows Button + E (brings up explorer – another handy trick)
- Organize
- Folder and Search Options
- Single-click to open item
Although we’re only dealing with literally fractions of seconds speed wise, i have actually noticed a huge difference in speed since i’ve switched to this set up. That might sound strange as a double click takes exactly 0.5 seconds (you wouldn’t think it would make any noticeable difference), but i’ve certainly noticed the difference and will continue with this set up from now on.
Anything which saves me time is a good thing and i’d imagine the only reason windows don’t default their click style to this is simply because it’s the windows way of doing things and people are used to it whereas in reality it creates more work for people and is in fact slower…
On the subject of Vista, i’ve also added check boxes to files which allows me to select multiple files or folders using checkboxes rather than holding down CTRL and clicking on all the files i wan to select. AGAIN, this saves me messing about with unecessary button/click combinations and speeds up the job.
It’s small little things like this which can make a huge difference. It means i click less, but get stuff open and process things faster – no brainer for me and i highly recommend you give both of these tweaks a try.