William Henry said, “All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown.” Clients tell me they are afraid to try things with that shiny new computer because they don’t know what will happen. Others forge blindly forward punching buttons, clicking the mouse on this icon or that link all in the hope that the computer will sanguinely accept random actions and create a coherent result. Others race to the book stores to purchase books and DVD’s that portend to solve all computer problems in just a few minutes of our time. For those who will and those that won’t, perhaps some simple explanations will open the floodgates of knowledge.
It was only a couple of decades ago that all computer functions were initiated via the keyboard. Users would type in enigmatic lines of text to instruct the calculating connivance on the proper steps needed to reach a desired result. Some may remember CTRL – P or ALT – F, commonly used to print and to select the file menu. With the advent of the mouse many of these commands have faded from memory but they still lie buried in the operating systems code.
One overlooked area of our computer is the keyboard. We are familiar with the letters and numbers in the traditional QWERTY layout, letters below and numbers above. But what are those mysterious keys at the top of the keyboard labeled F1 through F12? What are they for, what do they do? These keys are called Function keys. They are and can be reserved to perform specific actions if pressed.
Our computers have layers of systems that run simultaneously each supporting the next. The next time we start our computer, look carefully at the screen that displays the manufacturer’s logo. The computer is starting up according to instructions held in the BIOS. (Basic Input Output System) This is a set of instructions that tells the computer how to start, initiate the mouse, keyboard, load the hard drive and find and load any peripheral hardware attached to the computer such as DVD drives, Floppy drives, and external drives. The BIOS also reserves several of the function keys. At the bottom of the Logo screen will be some statements such as F1 – Enter Setup, F10 – Boot from LAN or F11 – System Recovery. Another reserved function key is the F8 key which alters the start up of Windows to allow the user to start the machine in Safe Mode. This is a diagnostic mode used if the computer has some problem that prevents it from booting correctly.
Once the computer has booted up and the operating system is up and running, it takes over some of the function keys and gives us quick access to a variety of features. Let’s take a look at some of the common function keys and how they can save us time over using a mouse. One of the most useful keys is the F1 key. This will almost always open a Help screen. Holding down the ALT key and then pressing F1 will open the Windows Help and Support Center. Even within a program such as a word processor or even a browser window, F1 will open a help screen.
F3 will generally open a search feature for Windows and many other programs. For example, we open a large webpage and we want to quickly find the part about bicycles. Press the F3 key and a search field opens. Type in bicycle, click Find and we move directly to the part of the document we need.
Using the ALT key with a Function key adds another layer of direct actions. ALT – F4 will close the open window while F4 will repeat the last action. Example, we want to be emphatic about something by type “very” several times. We can type it once then tap the F4 key a few times and “very” repeats.
If we are surfing the web and typing in different addresses in the URL (Universal Resource Locater) address bar, just tap F6 to move the cursor to the address bar. F11 will change the browser to full screen mode. Tap the F11 key again and it reverts to the default size.
The function keys can perform different actions in different programs and some can even be programmed for user defined purposes. Using Excel, we can define specific formulas to function keys to avoid having to type out long formulas over and over. Don’t be afraid to try different keys and discover what they do. A key tap can be much faster than dragging a mouse.
Different (key) strokes for different folks.
Don’t forget, these and many other tips and tricks are in my book Grumbles From The Keyboard. Click on the links to get yours right away.
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