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Welcome to the 'Windows laptop: Accessibility' course. In this video, you'll learn about some of the accessibility features of your computer, including how to make text and images bigger, how to make your mouse easier to use, and using voice commands to get things done. Accessibility features are designed to make your Windows computer easier and more comfortable to use. This is especially useful if you are hard of hearing, have low vision, or find it difficult to use the mouse and keyboard.
Many of your computer's accessibility settings are controlled from Windows Settings. To see Windows Settings, click on the Start button in the Taskbar at the bottom of your screen. It looks like a window. A panel will appear showing some icons. The Settings icon looks like a cog wheel. Click on it to open the Windows Settings panel. On the left of the panel is the Windows Settings menu. We'll be coming back to it a few times during this course. For now, though, we are going to learn how to change the size of text on the screen. From the Windows Settings menu on the left of the panel, click Accessibility. It has an icon that looks like a person. The Accessibility panel opens on the right.
At the top of this panel, you can see Text size. Click on this now. The Text size panel appears on the right. Right at the top of the panel, you will see Text size preview. Under this is some sample text and a slider control. Using your mouse, click on the slider button and drag it to the right to increase the size of the text or to the left to make the text smaller. When you've 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. If you decide you don't like the new settings, you can repeat the steps to change them back.
Now, from the menu on the left, let's click on Accessibility again. The panel on the right changes to show all the accessibility options. You can see there are lots of options, 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 options in the Accessibility panel, click on Mouse pointer and touch. Some options will appear on the right. Touch, on this panel, refers to options for computers with a touchscreen. For now, we're just going to look at Mouse pointer options.
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 the Mouse pointer options. Right at the top, you can see Mouse pointer style. You can click one of the options to change the mouse pointer arrow to match. The first option makes the pointer white. The next makes it black, which might be easier to see on a white screen. The third option makes the pointer change from white to black, depending on the darkness of the screen that it's on. The fourth option lets you choose from some high-contrast colours. This helps the mouse pointer stand out and can be a good option if you find that you lose the mouse pointer over text or detailed web pages and photos. Under Mouse pointer style, you can see the Size control.
Use your mouse to slide the button to the right to make the mouse pointer larger and back to the left to make it smaller. You can also change how fast the mouse pointer moves on the screen as you move the mouse. This can make it easier to point at smaller controls or text on your screen. Look for the Related settings section a bit lower in the panel. Click on the Mouse option. The right-hand panel will change to the Mouse panel in the Bluetooth & devices section of Windows Settings. If you look at the left menu, you can see Bluetooth & devices is now selected. Look for the Mouse pointer speed control in the right panel. It should be second from the top.
Use your mouse to slide the button to the right to make the mouse move faster and back to the left to make it move more slowly. You might prefer a faster speed if your computer has a large screen, or slower if you find it hard to select small icons or text. There are several other mouse options in this panel that are worth exploring. You can see if they help make the mouse easier to use. If your computer has a microphone, you can use Windows Voice access to do many tasks. To set up Voice access, click on Accessibility in the left menu of Windows Settings. The right panel changes to the Accessibility panel. Look down the panel for the Interaction section. You might need to scroll the panel with your mouse. Under Interaction, click on Speech. The right side of the screen will become the Speech panel.
You can see the Voice access switch at the top of this panel. By default, it is switched off, but yours might already be switched on, depending on your computer manufacturer and settings. If Voice access is switched off, click on the switch to turn it on. A bar will appear at the top of the screen asking if you want to continue and set up Voice access. Click Yes, continue. Your computer will do some work in the background to set up Voice access. When Voice access is ready, a panel will appear and ask you to set up your mic for voice access. If your computer doesn't have a microphone, nothing else will appear on this panel and you won't be able to use voice access. You can close the window. If your microphone is set up, the bar at the top of the screen will display 'Say "voice access wake up" or press the mic button to activate voice access'. Once you've activated Voice access, the top left of your screen will show the word, 'Listening'. The Microphone setup panel will show 'Say click next to continue', in the bottom right. Clearly say, 'click next' into the microphone.
The panel will change to show the 'You're all set!' screen. If the bar at the top of the screen says 'Couldn't find next' or the panel doesn't change to show the 'You're all set!' screen, try clicking anywhere on the panel first. Now you can say 'click start guide' to find out more about what you can do with Voice access and how to control different parts of your computer. You should now know how to change the size of text on your screen, alter the size and speed of your mouse pointer, and use Voice access to help make your computer just right for you. If you are unsure about any steps, you can rewind the video or click the chapter headings to jump to the start of a chapter. If you're ready to move on, there are many other courses to explore on Be Connected.