Accessibility features make your computer easier for everyone to use

Windows Me includes new and improved accessibility tools and features, offering people with disabilities greater immediate access and ease of use than ever before. Here are some of the highlights.

Accessibility by default
Accessibility options are installed by default during Windows Me setup, making the Accessibility Wizard and accessibility utilities instantly available.

Expanded Accessibility menu
The Accessibility menu now includes On-Screen Keyboard, a virtual keyboard on the computer screen, which allows people with mobility impairments to type using only their mouse. On-Screen Keyboard provides a minimum level of functionality for some people with mobility impairments and can help people who do not know how to type.

Enhanced Accessibility Wizard
The Windows Me Accessibility Wizard has been enhanced to help you customize the accessibility options of Windows Me quickly, easily, and completely. The wizard takes you through a series of questions about your vision, hearing, and mobility needs, and then customizes Windows Me accessibility settings for you. With the Windows Me Accessibility Wizard, you can also save your customized settings to a disk so you can use the settings on another Windows Me computer.

Intellipoint features added to Mouse Control Panel
A number of Intellipoint features that were previously only available with the purchase of an IntelliMouse® have been integrated into the mouse options in the Control Panel of Windows Me. Because of their crucial importance to many people with disabilities, these features are now available by default in Windows Me and do not require the purchase of a special mouse. The new features include:

• ClickLock—highlights or drags without requiring the user to continuously hold down the mouse button.
• SnapTo—automatically moves the pointer to the default button in a dialog box.
• Mouse Pointer Visibility Options—shows pointer trails, hides pointer while typing, shows location of pointer when you press the CTRL key.

Cursor-width option
You can now adjust the width of the cursor to help quickly distinguish its location on the screen. This feature helps people who have visual impairments, and is a potential usability enhancement for all.

More Active Accessibility® support
The increased integration of Microsoft Active Accessibility in Windows Me helps make many accessibility aids run more smoothly and effectively with the operating system and other applications.

Calculator now accessible
The Windows Calculator accessory has been improved with the addition of Microsoft Active Accessibility support. You no longer need special scripting to follow calculation results when using accessibility tools such as Microsoft Magnifier.

Keyboard access to taskbar provided
Keyboard access to the Windows taskbar, introduced with Windows 2000, is now also included in Windows Me. An additional improvement allows you to hold your preferred taskbar position, which prevents it from being hidden accidentally.

All the accessibility options you're used to are still there!

The new and enhanced accessibility features in Windows Me build on the accessibility options included in earlier versions of Windows, including:

Accessibility utility for people with low vision

• Microsoft Magnifier—a display utility that makes the computer screen more readable for people who have low vision by creating a separate window that displays a magnified portion of the screen. Magnifier provides a minimum level of functionality for people who have slight visual impairments.

Accessibility options you can adjust:

• StickyKeys simulates simultaneous keystrokes when you press one key at a time.
• FilterKeys adjusts the keyboard response so that inadvertently repeated keystrokes are ignored.
• ToggleKeys makes your computer emit sounds when certain "locking" keys are pressed.
• SoundSentry provides visual cues for system sounds.
• ShowSounds makes applications display captions for the speech and sounds they make.
• High Contrast improves screen contrast with alternative colors and font sizes designed for easy reading.
• MouseKeys enables navigation with the numeric keyboard rather than with the mouse.
• SerialKeys allows the use of input devices other than a keyboard or mouse.
• Automatic Reset turns off accessibility features after the computer is idle for a specified amount of time.
• Notification displays warning messages when features are turned on and sound messages when features are turned on and off.