Numlock - great when you have to type numbers!

Maria: as a lefty, I think I'd prefer that keyboard too. We should all switch to that... like a baby step before going to chording keyboards in the future when we have space cars and stuff

Scroll lock is a key (with an associated status light) on most modern computer keyboards. The behavior of the key depends on the particular software in use.

The Scroll Lock key is a remnant from the original IBM PC keyboard. In the original design, Scroll Lock was intended to modify the behavior of the arrow keys. When the scroll lock mode was on, the arrow keys would scroll the contents of a text window instead of moving the cursor. In this usage, Scroll Lock is a modifier key like Alt and Shift (which modify the function of other keys) and, more specifically, a toggling lock key like Num Lock or Caps Lock, which have a state that persists after the key is released. Today, this particular use of Scroll Lock is rare. Only a few modern programs still honor this behavior, such as Microsoft Excel (in the behavior of arrows — when Scroll Lock is on, the selection does not move), Lotus Notes and Forté Agent. In modern GUI environments, scrolling is usually accomplished using newer means such as scrollbars or scroll wheels. Therefore Scroll Lock can be regarded as a defunct feature in almost all modern programs and operating systems.

2 press Scroll Lock

3 have fun/call tech support!!!!!!!!1

Dead buttons are great because the intrepid user can map them to do other, funner things.

Wasn't worth having

OMG no wonder Finlanders are so pale.

But the numbers are laid out like a regular 10 key calculator so that you can touch type numbers.

There was a Straight Dope article about this in which the reader wondered if telephones were laid out differently so that the user would be forced to dial slower.

If you're doing data input it works better with the keypad. Three big fingers cover the numbers (one column each), thumb does the zero, little finger hits enter, and your left hand hits the tab key to take you to the next box while you go into a trance.

I use a computer keyboard and monitor as a phone during the radio show I produce. I answer the lines by pressing the corresponding Function key, and I make outgoing calls by using the numeric keypad.

With regular numbers that I call, it's actually a minor challenge sometimes to call them from a regular telephone instead of the keypad because the numbers are arranged differently. There have been times when I've hit the keys in the same rhythm I always do only to get a completely different number on the line because I've forgotten where I was. Frustrating.

I also work with an idiot savant who likes to turn off the numlock button at the end of the day. Pretty frustrating to dial 15013768111,,8923 only to find that Rain Man's been in the studio and none of your digits were entered.

DO NOT WANT

We're agreeing, right?

OMG I DID NOT KNOW THIS!!!!!

Look up "macro recorder"

there are programs out there that will do this hell of easily.

On a Mac, it works mostly the same, but you use option instead of control.

Not all applications respond the same, and you usually need some text to select for this to be interesting.

Also, scroll lock is useful on the console of a unix PC, and pause/break can be used to send a break to a serial terminal.

Whoa!

Is there are website or something that would list all these secret functions?

But how is he going to acidentally type over his own work?

-- Tuomas (lixnix...) (webmail), February 21st, 2007 7:14 AM. (Tuomas) (later) (link)

please to post url of tuomas homepage when it is completed

But seriously, I think I use pretty much all of these regularly except for scroll lock and that button that simulates a right click. There's an entire set of commands that the Windows key can be used in conjunction with that are really useful:
(using wk for Windows key)
wk+r: Run dialog
wk+e: New windows explorer window
wk+pause: System Properties

and those are just a few of the amazing things you can do with a modern keyboard. Next week, I'll explore the mythical "apple" key on Macs.