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Welcome to the Windows desktop: Accessibility course. In this course, you will learn about some of the accessibility features of your computer, including how to make text and images bigger and how to make your mouse easier to use.
To follow along with this demonstration, your Windows computer must have Windows 10. All Windows 10 computers work in a similar way, but each computer maker does things a little differently and Windows 10 is also being updated all the time. That means some of the screens in this video might appear a bit different or in a different order to those on your computer.
Accessibility features are designed to make your Windows 10 computer easier and more comfortable to use. This is especially useful if you are hard of hearing, have impaired vision, or find it difficult to use the mouse and keyboard.
Many of your computer settings are controlled from Windows settings. To see Windows settings, click on the Start button, which you can find in the bottom left corner of the screen. Then, click on the small cog icon to open Windows settings. A panel will open to show a range of icons for different settings on your computer. This is the Windows Settings home panel. If this looks a little different on your computer, you might be seeing the Windows Settings menu, which has a menu on the left and options on the right. The Windows Settings menu opens whenever you click an icon on the Windows Settings home panel. Your computer remembers the page you visited when you were last using Windows Settings, and it will open the menu on this page. So, if you are seeing a Windows Settings menu, click the Home icon in the top left to return to the Windows Settings home panel.
Now, we're going to learn how to change the size of text on the screen. Let's click Ease of Access. The Ease of Access menu opens on the left and the column on the right should be showing Display options. If it doesn't, click on Display from the menu on the left. Right at the top of the list of Display options, you will see Make text bigger. Under this is some sample text and a slider control with a blue button. Using your mouse, click on the blue button and slide it to the right to increase the size of text or to the left to make text smaller. When you found the text size that suits you, release the blue button and click Apply. Your computer will show a Please wait screen for a moment. Then, all the text you can see on the screen will now be larger or smaller depending on what you have chosen. This is a very handy setting, but it doesn't increase the size of everything on your computer.
To make everything on your computer bigger, click on the box under Change the size of apps and text on the main display. A list of percentages will appear, one of which will be recommended for use on your computer. To make everything bigger, choose a larger percentage and click on it. The screen will change right away. When you change the setting to make everything bigger on the screen, some things might look a little blurry, but don't worry, they'll be fixed automatically the next time you sign into your computer. If you decide you don't like larger settings, you can repeat the steps to change them back. For this demonstration, we'll click on the box and select 250%. Next, we'll use our mouse to slide the blue button to the left towards the little A. Then, click Apply.
You can see there are lots of options in Ease of Access, and it's worth exploring these in your own time to see if they can help you. But for now, let's look at how to make the mouse easier to use. From the menu on the left, click on Cursor & pointer. The Cursor & pointer options appear on the right. The mouse pointer, also known as a cursor, is the small arrow you see on your screen when you move your mouse. It shows you where your mouse is pointing on the screen. Sometimes the arrow is tricky to see, because of its size, colour, and how fast it moves. Luckily, you can change all these to suit you here with Cursor & pointer options. Right at the top, you can see Change pointer size and a slider control with a blue button. Use your mouse to slide the blue button to the right to make the mouse pointer larger and back to the left to make it smaller.
You can change the colour of the mouse pointer too, so it's easier to see. Under the size slider control, you can see four boxes, each showing a slightly different mouse pointer. Click on each box until you find the colour you like. You can make the mouse pointer white or black, for example. If you don't see a colour you like, click on the custom colour box on the far right. Some colour options will appear underneath, and you can click the one you like. If you don't like any of those colours, click the grey square with the plus sign in it to pick a custom pointer colour from the chart, and then click Done.
You can also change how fast the mouse pointer moves on the screen as you move the mouse. Use your mouse to scroll down the Cursor & pointer options until you see Additional mouse settings. Then, click on it to continue. Your computer will now show devices on the left and mouse options on the right. Under Mouse, look for Related settings. Underneath this, click on Additional mouse options. You should now see a little box to the side called Mouse Properties. Click on Pointer Options. Next, the box will show a slider control underneath the words, Select a pointer speed. Use your mouse to slide the blue button to the left to make the mouse pointer move slower and to the right to move it faster. You can check the speed on the screen as you go. Once you've found the setting you like, click OK at the bottom of the box to save and close it and return to Windows Settings.
Congratulations, you've reached the end of the "Windows desktop: Accessibility" course. There are lots more accessibility options you can explore in Windows settings to make your computer just right for you. When you're ready, feel free to explore some of the other courses and learn what else your Windows 10 computer can do.