Emoticons and How to Use Them Here

Hi everyone,

I'm using an HP laptop with Windows 10, so there's a mouse pad but no actual mouse.

I keep seeing lovely little emoticons/emojis in people's posts, but I can't find a way of making them appear in mine. I know how to make a but that's it. I don't know the key strokes for other emoticons, and things like rainbows and thumbs up signs or flowers are way beyond me.

Some of us are using Macs, which have them included. I believe they are offered as an option if you're running an Android phone, but frankly it's hard work on my hands to hold a mobile phone, much less scroll up and down to find them, and posting on a mobile phone would be a nightmare - back to one-finger typing, half an hour to make a post, only to lose it all just before posting and have to start again!

There must be a straightforward way of inserting or finding emoticons in our posts made using a laptop. Would anyone be able to enlighten me, please?

(I'm cross-posting this to other boards I'm a member of as well as this one, and if I get answers somewhere, I'll cross-post those as well - so the most people possible get the answer.)

Thank you!