Basic Instructions by Scott Meyer for January 16, 2019

The purpose of the insert key is to mess with people who don’t notice that they’ve hit it.

I put a note about using the insert key on my copy/paste button.

The software we used to run our wafer fab used the keys on the number pad.

hA!

I learned something today. Totally useless, of course, but still interesting.

I’M NOT SHOUTING, THE CAPS LOCK IS STUCK.

OK, here’s a weird one. I was messing with some of the keys to try and formulate a funny post, and I discovered that the TAB key does not put a tab into your text, it puts the “cursor” out into your screen somewhere, and scrolls it! Maybe this is Firefox only, I don’t know.

I have a great keyboard (the Logitech Illuminated K-740 that has such a short throw that I can type 30% or more faster than on other keyboards) but it is absolutely necessary for me to deactivate the Caps Lock key lest I shout too much. This can be accomplished with a fairly simple edit to the Windows Registry that you can find at many places online.

Someone should have told Scott that the numlock and insert lock keys can similarly be disabled or repurposed.

I’m still wondering how the heck my 80 year old mom installed and enabled (left Ctrl-Shift) a Dvorak keyboard layout. Still has a QWERTY keyboard.

I know that some computer functions are more useful to engineers and/or designers than to the rest of us.

And who the hell uses FUNCTION KEYS anymore!

I remember a time before GUI applications when the software makers gave you a plastic template to lay over them so you’d know what the program’s commands were.