DESCENDANTS OF COMPUTER MOUSE GET TO THE POINT.

Byline: Charlie Paschal Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

If you plan to do any type of computing that's graphical, you're going to need some sort of pointing device.

The good old standby is the mouse, first made popular by Macintosh computers but now used on most PCs, especially those running the Windows operating system.

For a long time, there didn't seem to be any need for more than one button on a mouse. While many manufacturers included two or three buttons, it wasn't until the introduction of Windows 95 that the right mouse button began to come into its own. If you use Windows 95, you'll find that the right mouse button opens up a new world, creating an additional path to do tasks.

The mouse is not alone, though, in ways to point and click. One such device is a track ball. The track ball has advantages over a mouse in that it seldom needs to be cleaned and the space needed for it on the desktop is almost nil.

Personally, I don't like a track ball. But I have friends who swear by them for different reasons. If space on your desktop is at a premium, you might want to consider one. Track balls take some adjustment, but most users swear by them after a few weeks.

A newcomer on the scene is the glide pad. As you move your finger across the pad, the mouse pointer follows it. Once you reach your target, you then can either tap on the pad or click on a button to activate the pointer.

IBM also has introduced a type of pointer that appears above the last row of keys and looks like a red pencil eraser. To be frank, I never was able to get the hang of the nub to make the pointing device do what I wanted it to do.

An innovation in recent years is the mouse that doesn't need to be attached to the computer. I've heard good and bad about the cordless mouse. If works, getting rid of the tangle of cords would be one less worry.

Which one is right for you?

The easiest way to answer that question is to visit some computer stores and try some out. You'll probably find the glide pad on laptops, but it's available for desktops too.This brings to mind your computer keyboard. I've known people who bought a computer because of the feel of the keyboard. Don't do that. That's like buying a car because it has a good radio.

Good keyboards are hard to come by, but even the most expensive ones - like the Microsoft natural keyboard - cost less than $90. Take care in choosing your keyboard, but don't turn down buying a good system because of its clunky keyboard.

By buying a copy of Computer Shopper magazine at a newsstand, you can let your fingers do the walking to find the perfect keyboard for you. I personally like one with the function keys on both the top and the left.But if you buy one you don't like, you haven't lost much. It's like the radio in your car: It needs to be right to make your ride more enjoyable.