The present invention system and method facilitates one handed operation of a hand held computer including application access and activation. A personal digital assistant application access and activation system and method of the present invention permits a user to hold a PDA in one hand and activate a new application with the same hand. In one embodiment of the present invention an application list is presented on a display when a jog dial is depressed for a specific amount of time (e.g., two seconds). In one exemplary implementation of the present invention the application list includes a variety of application titles and application icons representing applications. A highlighting indicator is moved to a different application identifier in response to movements in the jog dial. The highlighted application is activated when the jog dial is depressed again. In one embodiment of the present invention a first application is activated even though a second application is already running. In one exemplary implementation of the present invention an application list includes a cancel indicator for canceling an application access. In yet another exemplary implementation the application list includes an off indicator for turning off the hand held computer.