Chapter 19. Working with Accessibility settings

In this section:

• Switching from a right-handed to left-handed mouse

• Adjusting double-click speed and indicator motion

• Adjusting keyboard settings

• Enabling High Contrast

• Letting Windows suggest Ease of Access settings

• Using Magnifier

• Using Narrator

• Working with speech recognition

To provide input to your computer, you use a mouse, touchpad, keyboard, or your fingers on a touchscreen. You can make input easier if you have minor hearing, vision, or dexterity challenges by reconfiguring a variety of settings in Windows 8.1. These options are universal to virtually all computing devices and have been addressed elsewhere in this book; you can almost always turn up the volume, change the screen resolution, and make tiles on the Start screen larger so that they’re easier to tap or click, among other things.

There are additional options available in Windows 8.1 that you might not find on other devices; they are located in various places including PC Settings, Control Panel, and the Ease Of Access Center. You can change how the mouse works and looks on the screen, enable high contrast for your display, and use tools such as Magnifier, Narrator, and Speech Recognition, among others to make your computer easier to use.

Switching from a right-handed to left-handed mouse

If you are left-handed (or if your right hand is injured), you will want to reverse the default settings for the mouse buttons. You might also want to switch from right-handed to left-handed use on a regular basis (say weekly) to avoid repetitive use injuries, like carpal tunnel syndrome.

Switch from right-hand to left-hand clicking

1. From the Start screen, type Mouse.

2. In the results, click Change Your Mouse Settings.

   

3. Click the arrow under Select Your Primary Button, and select Right instead of Left.

   

Try This

If the size of the pointer is difficult for you to see on the screen, repeat step 1, but in the results in step 2, click Ease Of Access Mouse Settings. There you can change the pointer size, pointer color, and more.

Tip

If you use a laptop’s touchpad to move the cursor on the screen and you want to change settings for it, on the Start screen, type Touchpad. You’ll find settings for changing touchpad settings in PC Settings, under PC and Devices, in Mouse and Touchpad. You might also turn off the touchpad if you use a mouse (and often inadvertently touch the touchpad while working).

Adjusting double-click speed and indicator motion

If double-clicking presents a challenge because you have trouble clicking fast enough, you can adjust the speed at which the mouse responds to a double-click. You can also modify how fast the mouse indicator moves across your screen so that you can follow its path more easily.

Change double-click speed and motion settings

1. Right-click the Start button, and click Control Panel.

   

2. Type Mouse in the Search window.

3. Click Change Mouse Click Settings.

   

4. On the Buttons tab, drag the slider in the Double-Click Speed category to set the speed at which you want to double-click your mouse to initiate an action.

5. Double-click the folder icon to test the setting.

   

6. Click the Pointer Options tab.

7. Drag the slider in the Motion setting section to adjust how fast or slow the pointer moves on your screen in response to mouse movements.

8. Click OK.

   

Try This

You can change how fast or slow you must double-tap on a touch screen to make something happen. Search for Pen And Touch from the Start screen, and click Pen And Touch in the results to access the settings.

Tip

You’ll find different mouse schemes on the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box. Windows Default (System Scheme) is selected, but you can choose another. If you have trouble seeing the mouse, try Windows Standard (Extra Large) (System Scheme).

Try This

Before you click OK in step 8, see what’s available from the other tabs: Pointers, Wheel, and Hardware. You might find other options that you want to change.

Adjusting keyboard settings

You can change how your keyboard works, to make it easier to use if you have dexterity issues. The best place to access the keyboard settings is Control Panel. Among other things, there you can change how fast the cursor blinks on the screen; configure the keyboard so that the numeric keyboard can be used to move the cursor around on the screen (Mouse Keys); configure the keyboard so that keyboard shortcuts that require you hold down more than one key at a time can be performed with only one finger (Sticky Keys); and configure the keyboard to ignore brief repeated keystrokes when you have trouble getting your hands off the keys fast enough (Filter Keys).

Adjust keyboard settings

1. Right-click the Start button, and click Control Panel.

   

2. Type Keyboard in the Search window.

3. Click Change How Your Keyboard Works.

   

   Tip

   You can change what happens when you type on a keyboard. You can change whether or not Windows will autocorrect misspelled words; will show text suggestions as you type; will add a period when you double-tap the Spacebar; and more. Beyond that, you can configure what happens when you use the Touch Keyboard, including whether to hear sounds as you type, capitalize the first letters of each sentence, and so on. You access these options in PC Settings, PC and Devices, Typing.

4. Read all of the options, and select the options to enable.

5. Click OK.

   

Tip

In PC Settings, in Ease Of Access, and just underneath High Contrast, note the Keyboard option. You can quickly enable or disable Sticky Keys, Toggle Keys, and Filter Keys there.

Tip

If the charms open when you don’t need them, because you regularly and inadvertently move the cursor into an active hot corner, turn off corner navigation. Access these settings in PC Settings, PC and Devices, Corners and Edges.

Enabling High Contrast

If you have difficulty seeing items on your screen, especially because of its color or contrast settings, you will want to try the available high-contrast options. These options change the background color of the screen as well as the screen elements. Try it; seeing is believing!

Enable High Contrast

1. Press Windows logo key+I, and click Change PC Settings.

   

2. If you see a back arrow, click it.

   

3. Click Ease Of Access.

   

4. Click High Contrast.

5. Click the arrow by None.

   

6. Select High Contrast #2.

   

7. If you like what you see, click Apply. (If not, repeat steps 5–6 to select another option.)

   

8. To turn off High Contrast, do the following:

   1. Click the arrow by the selected theme (not shown), and click None.

   2. Click Apply.

   

Tip

If you’re still having trouble seeing what’s on the screen or if enabling High Contrast didn’t work as you’d like, try increasing the size of the items on the screen. Right-click the desktop, click Screen Resolution, and opt to make text and other items larger or smaller.

Letting Windows suggest Ease of Access settings

There are many options to make it easier to use your computer if you have a disability. In fact, there are too many to detail in this section. There are options that can help you if you get distracted easily, if you are blind, if you are deaf, or if you are dyslexic, among other things. Windows offers a tool that can offer recommendations based on answers that you give to five questions, to tell you what accessibility options might work best for you.

Let Windows suggest Ease of Access settings

1. Right-click the Start button, and click Control Panel (not shown).

2. Under Ease Of Access, click Let Windows Suggest Settings.

   

3. For the first question, check applicable answers.

4. Click Next.

   

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to answer the other four questions.

   Tip

   Learn more about specific Ease Of Access options in the remaining tasks in this section: Using Magnifier, Using Narrator, and Using Speech Recognition.

6. Review the results, and select any item to enable.

7. Read the Caution shown on this book page, and then, if desired, click OK.

   

Caution

In step 6, if you enable features such as Magnifier and Narrator and then click OK in step 7, those features will immediately start. This might come as a surprise if the screen is suddenly magnified and a voice starts talking to you. Consider reading about how to use these features before you click OK.

Using Magnifier

Magnifier magnifies what’s on the screen. You can configure what part of the screen is magnified and how much it’s magnified after it’s running. There are many ways to start Magnifier, including from the Ease Of Access Center, and from PC Settings, Ease Of Access, and Magnifier. After it’s running, it’s important to know three keyboard shortcuts for managing it:

• Stop Magnifier. Windows+Esc.

• Zoom in or out. Windows+Plus sign or Windows + Minus sign, respectively.

• Restart Magnifier when stopped. Windows+Plus sign.

Use Magnifier

1. From the Start screen, press Windows and the + key. The screen is magnified (provided you haven’t used it yet and changed the settings to 100%).

2. Move the cursor over one of the following:

   1. Magnifier window if it’s available. (This will change to a magnifying glass in a couple of seconds.)

   2. Magnifying glass if it’s available. To show the Magnifier window, click the double arrows that appear.

      
      

3. With the Magnifier window open, click the – and + signs to zoom out and in.

4. Click Views to explore other views; try Lens. (Docked isn’t available on the Start screen.)

5. Press Windows+Esc to exit Magnifier, or, click the X in the Magnifier window.

   

Tip

Click the Settings icon on the Magnifier window to access settings. You can have Magnifier automatically follow your mouse pointer or text insertion point, among other things.

Using Narrator

Narrator tells you what is happening on the screen in real time. It lets you know when you’ve opened a dialog box, navigated to a webpage, or opened or closed an app. It doesn’t detail the content in a file (like what’s on a PowerPoint slide or what a picture looks like), although it will tell you when you’ve opened and closed files. It can also read what you type. Narrator can sometimes read items that you select in apps, too. For example, it will say aloud the month or day you select from a list when configuring an event in Calendar.

Start Narrator and configure settings

1. From the Start screen, type Narrator.

2. Click Narrator Settings in the results. (To start Narrator later, click Narrator in the results.)

   

3. Move the slider for Narrator from Off to On. (If you don’t hear Narrator start, turn up the volume on your computer.)

4. If desired, change additional settings, such as Speed and Pitch (move the sliders).

5. Click the arrow beside Microsoft David, and click Microsoft Hazel.

   
   

6. Scroll to see additional settings; configure as desired.

   

7. Scroll back up, and move the slider for Narrator from On to Off (shown on the previous page).

Tip

There are a lot of keyboard shortcuts that you can use with Narrator. Caps Lock+Esc will turn it off, and Ctrl can be used to make Narrator stop reading.

Tip

Narrator’s capabilities are constantly being expanded. Although Narrator will never be able to tell you what a picture looks like, by the time you read this, it might be able to do things it currently can’t, like read the content of webpages, Excel and Power-Point entries, and PDF files.

Working with speech recognition

Speech recognition has been around for many years, and the technology has made great progress in its ability to recognize voices and accents and deliver accurate results. Windows 8.1 comes with its own speech recognition program, you can use to give oral commands like Click File, Click Start, Double-Click Recycle Bin, Scroll Up, Scroll Down, New Paragraph, Select Word, and so on. However, you have to turn it on first, configure it, and train it. After you’ve worked through the setup tasks, you can start using it.

Start Speech Recognition and configure your microphone

1. From the Start screen, begin to type Speech Recognition.

2. Click Speech Recognition in the results. (Do not click Windows Speech Recognition.)

   

3. Click Set Up Microphone.

   

4. Choose your microphone type, click Next, and work through the setup wizard as instructed.

   

Work through the speech tutorial

1. In Control Panel, in Speech Recognition, click Take Speech Tutorial.

   

2. Click Next.

   

3. Work through the speech tutorial as prompted, speaking (and clicking Next) as applicable.

   

Tip

It takes a long time to work through the speech tutorial, but it’s worth it. If you plan to use speech recognition regularly, make time to work through the tutorial completely.

Use Speech Recognition

After you have set up Speech Recognition, you can try it out. You can start Speech Recognition from Control Panel’s Speech Recognition window, or you can search for Speech Recognition from the Start screen.

1. From the Start screen, begin to type Speech Recognition.

2. Click Windows Speech Recognition in the results.

   

3. If the Speech Recognition controls shows Off (or anything other than Listening), click the Microphone button on the Speech Recognition controls.

   

4. Verify that the Speech Recognition controls show Listening.

   

5. Speak the following into your microphone: “Open WordPad.” WordPad opens.

6. Begin to speak a sentence. Note the words that appear in WordPad.

7. Say “Close WordPad.”

8. Click the Don’t Save button.

   

9. Say “What can I say?” and then silently read the information about the commands you can use with Speech Recognition.

10. Click the X in the Speech Recognition controls to exit the application.

    

11. Say “Stop listening.”

    

Tip

If you like using Speech Recognition, leave it enabled. When you want to use it, say “Start listening.”