The mouse is a natural for selecting a range of cells in Excel. Just position the mouse pointer (in its thick, white-cross form) on the first cell and drag in the direction that you want to extend the selection.

• To extend the cell selection to columns to the right, drag right, highlighting neighboring cells as you go.
• To extend the selection to rows to the bottom, drag down.
• To extend the selection down and to the right at the same time, drag diagonally toward the cell in the lower-right corner of the block you are highlighting.