Well you are not out of luck, as almost any function you can do with a mouse you can also do by pushing the right sequence of keys on the keyboard, e.g. if you hold down the Alt key and repeatedly push the Tab key, it will give you the option to bring any window you currently have existing (minimized or not) to the front simply by letting go of the Alt key when it puts a box around the window you want.

Another good one is the Esc key as it can often get you out of a program that doesn't seem to want to let you leave.

Holding down the Cntrl and Shift keys and then pushing the Esc key will give you the Windows Task Manager, where you can see what processes are running on your system, shutdown a process if you want, or shutdown your system altogether, and then see if your mouse is just unplugged.

List of keyboard function keys and DOS commands

        KEY(S)                                          FUNCTION                                             NOTES                                      

Hit Windows then r                       *Opens RUN window                  Can enter programs like charmap, winver
Hold Shift on Windows startup    Stops Startup programs                   Hold just before Desktop appears
Hold Alt and push Tab...   Tab cycles thru open applications for access         Let go of Alt
F3                                            Opens the Explorer search window                      Explorer
←Backspace                             When in Exporer moves up one level                  Explorer
F5                                            In Exporer refreshs the screen display                 Explorer
Hold Alt and push ←                 In Exporer moves you back                                 Explorer
Hold Alt and push →                    In Explorer moves you forward                        Explorer
Hold Ctrl and Shift push ESC      Windows Task Manager (WTM)                   multi-function util
Hold Ctrl and Alt push Delete     Push Delete once for WTM                                   ""
Hold Ctrl and Alt push Delete   Push Delete twice to start an immediate crash shutdown
Hold Ctrl and push S                         Save current document
Hold Ctrl and push O                          Open a new document
Hold Ctrl and push Z                          Undo last thing you did
Hold Ctrl and push End                  Go to end of this document
help                                           List of Windows DOS commands           In Command Prompt DOS mode
set                                                   DOS command                            Gives you a list of user/system variables
help (DOS command)               Gives detailed information on command                        ""
shutdown -a                           Aborts any system shutdown in progress       Use *RUN window or in DOS

TIP:   If you can't seem to shut your system down, then you can try holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys and hitting the Delete key twice -- this will cause an immediate shutdown of the system -- hopefully.   You can first try to enter the following commands to attempt a normal shutdown:

>Hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and hit the Delete key once
>Hold down the Alt key and hit the letter U
>Hit the down arrow (↓) twice
>Hit the Enter key and the system should do a normal shutdown

To get to the window to enter DOS commands:  Start / Programs / Accessories / Command Prompt.   This is the DOS window for entering DOS commands, like "dir" for a listing of files in the directory you are in.

keoni@isp.com