It's always good to keep a spill chucker handy.

That's not actually a mouse-specific trick, it's Mac OS X's mighty Contextual Menu (CM). Different applications provide different CM support, but most apps that have a spell checker provide suggestions in the CM. But first we need to clear up the button layout. A left-click is traditionally the standard single-button click. By default, clicking a mouse's right button - or pressing Control while clicking a single-button mouse - summons the CM (so you were probably right-clicking with your Mighty Mouse). But you can reassign this and other button behaviors in System Preferences' Keyboard & Mouse pane under Mouse > Primary Button. Mac OS X's driver works perfunctorily on any mouse, but to really master your laser mouse, Logitech provides its own control software for configuring the buttons, which you can download (free, www.logitech.com) if you've lost the disc that came with your mouse.

Do you have a question for the experts at Mac|Life? Click here to send us an email, or leave a message on our Call for Help line at 650-238-2495.