Scroll lock

[Jez1]

I read in an old copy of "PC World" a review on a new computer from about 20 years ago.
It mentioned the Scroll Lock key. The writer couldn't figure out what it did....


Jez

[Rick Bull]

I think it was used in DOS to stop the page scrolling down too much if there was too much text. It's something like that. Plus you can use it in HTML-Kit to enable Auto-Complete

[JoshT]

Excel might use it for something, IIRC.

[mendhak]

What about the Pause button? What is the purpose of these redundant keys? I do use printscreen though, just for snapshots.

[Rick Bull]

YOu can use Pause to Break in programming languages if you hold down control at the same time. It's really useful if your prgram is stuck in a loop. Just hit it and the IDE stops the current process. I assume it used to be used to just Pause it (i.e. not go back to the IDE) in the DOS days, or something like that

[Ambivalentiowa]

:lightsaber:

[Rick Bull]

Huh?!

[JoshT]

The Pause key will pause the BIOS during POST - useful for getting time to write stuff down, like the BIOS version if you want to check for a newer one online.

[Rick Bull]

Wow, I never knew that. Do you know if it will work for all BIOS makes? And do you press it again to continue? Or are you stuck there forever

[tonnic]

cool, so i'm not the only one who doesn't know it... hey; maybe an idea for gates; he could remove a button, so the keyboard won't cost more and he'll make more money

[JoshT]

You press the space to continue - all BIOSes I've seen that show the normal black BIOS POST screen do it - it might not work for those that replace the POST screen with the company that build the computer's logo.