# The most useless key on the keyboard?



## The_Other_One

What do you guys think?  There are a good few keys we don't use anymore, like the Scroll lock, Pause/Break, etc etc...  But personally, I HATE the windows keys(particually the start menu one)  I always forget to disable it and it messed me up when I'm gamming.

Now, Im asking this for your general keyboards, but to be specific(IE my laptop) I HATE HATE HATE that I have two \ keys.  Yes, I have one by the brackets, and one by the cursors.  I have no clue why they did this, but it's so annoying!


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## DCIScouts

I will have to second the nomination of the Windows key.  That thing always seems to come at the worst time while I'm in the middle of an important part of a game.


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## Geoff

I've hardly ever run into a problem with hitting the Windows key, I actually find it to be very useful.  I usually use it when im in a full screen program, and I want to get back to the desktop or other programs.  So instead of doing the desktop shortcit combo, i just hit the Windows key.

The key I use least would have to be one of the following:

Scroll Lock
Pause/Break
That key between the Alt and Ctrl to the right of the spacebar (the menu key thing).


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## bigsaucybob

[-0MEGA-];409072 said:
			
		

> That key between the Alt and Ctrl to the right of the spacebar (the menu key thing).



I read that line, and I pressed that button for my first time ever.

One button I NEVER use is the one to the left of the (1) key.


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## Geoff

bigsaucybob said:


> One button I NEVER use is the one to the left of the (1) key.



Really?  I press that several times a day.  It's the default command to bring up the console in most games, including CSS.


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## gamerman4

the scroll lock key since in any OS with a GUI (at least in Windows), it serves no purpose at all. Also, the key beside the right windows key(it acts as a right click but whos mouse cant right click nowadays?).


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## Burgerbob

I like the windows key, i use it to log off and whatnot, i think the CTRL and ALT on the right of the spacebar (mentioned earlier) and the scroll lock are the most useless. I use the Pause key in TA, and i use the ~ key in games and as my sig for emails (~Example~).


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## Nini

I know not all keyboards have this. but...
i dont use the internet button, search button, or email button wich are on top of the F1-F12 keys


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## dirrocte

gamerman4 said:


> the scroll lock key since in any OS with a GUI (at least in Windows), it serves no purpose at all. Also, the key beside the right windows key(it acts as a right click but whos mouse cant right click nowadays?).



lol in some games i play (WoW) its the auto run key.. but i agree other than that its pretty useless


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## Burgerbob

Nini said:


> I know not all keyboards have this. but...
> i dont use the internet button, search button, or email button wich are on top of the F1-F12 keys



I love those keys, i have Media (brings up winamp), Play/Pause, Mute (dont use that much), favorites (skip back a track in winamp), Email (skip foward), and WWW, which is my FF button.


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## Nini

Burgerbob said:
			
		

> I love those keys, i have Media (brings up winamp), Play/Pause, Mute (dont use that much), favorites (skip back a track in winamp), Email (skip foward), and WWW, which is my FF button.



I use the other ones up there, just not those 3.

up there on my keyboard are EJECT 1, EJECT 2, Burn DVD/Cd, PREV, PLAY/pause, NEXT, STOP , volume, and mute  wich i use quite frequently


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## computerhakk

Power, Sleep, and Wake Up buttons. They never work on any computer that I have seen with those buttons on the keyboard. Guess it requires programming, but yea I think they are useless.


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## bratton

i nominate 'insert' just to spite it. that key is an ashhole


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## Burgerbob

bratton said:


> i nominate 'insert' just to spite it. that key is an ashhole



I have to agree... and i have to notice, how did we make our rigs so similar?


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## Shady

i've read on Slashdot that some people are asking to remove the CapsLock key !
i think this means its useless
speaking for me ... i use the shift key when i want to write a capital letter
i never write a paragraph all in capital letters


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## koOp

because ur BROTHERS!!!!!! anyways i hate the window key too -.- wreaks my fun, how do u disable it btw?


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## Ku-sama

shady said:


> i've read on Slashdot that some people are asking to remove the CapsLock key !
> i think this means its useless
> speaking for me ... i use the shift key when i want to write a capital letter
> i never write a paragraph all in capital letters




Lol, its because people are tired of:

WTF H0W D1D Y00 D0 THT SHT MAN!?!?/1/1?!/1??!1??/1??!//1? OMG Y000000 Y0R SCH TEH 31337 HAX0RZ111!!1!1!!!111!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!11!!


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## lee101

I say Pause/Break, because pressing it does notinhg at all, it could at least freeze my PC to show somekind of sign that it has been pressed, in fact, is it even a button, is it just a piece of plastic that ppresses, but no elecctrical things underneath, anyone care to disect a keyboard to answer my question


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## Tayl

The Right Click key on my keyboard is the one I absolutely hate. Not sure if all keyboards have this key but it's located to the left of the right Ctrl. This keyboard goes (Ctrl - Windows Start - Alt - Space key - Alt Gr - Windows Start - *RIGHT CLICK*- Ctrl), keys bloody useless. In all the time I have used this keyboard I think the only time I have ever pressed it was right now to make sure that it did actually do something.


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## dave597

lee101 said:


> I say Pause/Break, because pressing it does notinhg at all, it could at least freeze my PC to show somekind of sign that it has been pressed, in fact, is it even a button, is it just a piece of plastic that ppresses, but no elecctrical things underneath, anyone care to disect a keyboard to answer my question



if you press windows and pause/break it handily goes to system properties in windows. im gonna go with f8 as the most useless key.


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## Geoff

bratton said:


> i nominate 'insert' just to spite it. that key is an ashhole



Alot of new keyboards dont include the "insert" key anymore.  But I actually need one for some CSS mods.


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## apj101

i hate the key the brings up the right click context menu


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## bratton

[-0MEGA-];411381 said:
			
		

> Alot of new keyboards dont include the "insert" key anymore.  But I actually need one for some CSS mods.



thankfully i now own one of those keyboards
edit: but the hate remains


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## DCIScouts

bratton said:


> thankfully i now own one of those keyboards
> edit: but the hate remains



LOL, I feel ya there man.  Even if they ever remove the Windows key, I will still heavily dislike that key forever and all time.  Stupid thing did it to me yesterday..., why oh why would they put it between the ctrl and alt keys????


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## Redbull{wings}

you do realize that the day they remove some of these keys and you get a new keyboard will be the day your looking for that right ctrl or windows key 


btw i disected a keyboard a while back and all keys have an electrical board under them


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## dave597

[-0MEGA-];411381 said:
			
		

> Alot of new keyboards dont include the "insert" key anymore.  But I actually need one for some CSS mods.


Yeh, that's true, my keyboard doesn't have an insert key; instead I have a delete key which is twice the size of an ordinary key.


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## dave597

Redbull{wings} said:


> you do realize that the day they remove some of these keys and you get a new keyboard will be the day your looking for that right ctrl or windows key
> 
> 
> btw i disected a keyboard a while back and all keys have an electrical board under them



i flooded my keyboard once with a glass of water and ended up taking it apart. its amazing how they made them to be so resiliant to water damage; after a wipe-down with the old cloth the keyboard was functioning perfectly


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## leetkyle

The windows key should be locked! I always hit it while trying to find ALT (prone in battlefield 2) and it totally wrecks up my game.

Followed by the Function key on my keyboard - WHY DO I HAVE IT!? I have seperate keys for F1-F12 already!


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## dave597

leetkyle said:


> The windows key should be locked! I always hit it while trying to find ALT (prone in battlefield 2) and it totally wrecks up my game.
> 
> Followed by the Function key on my keyboard - WHY DO I HAVE IT!? I have seperate keys for F1-F12 already!


 jeez dont you have software to disable buttons? my keyboard driver (microsoft wireless 'multimedia' kybrd) has options which i can configure any key. also you can just use a screwdriver and pull the key out. thirdly - if you are carelss enough to press a wrong button on youre keyboard then you a) havent learnt touch typing, b) shouldnt be playing those kind of games imo


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## Redbull{wings}

dave597 said:


> i flooded my keyboard once with a glass of water and ended up taking it apart. its amazing how they made them to be so resiliant to water damage; after a wipe-down with the old cloth the keyboard was functioning perfectly



mine was old and needed clean but the dirt and such was so far down i had to take the entire thing apart and it is amazing how much these things can take


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## DCIScouts

leetkyle said:


> The windows key should be locked! I always hit it while trying to find ALT (prone in battlefield 2) and it totally wrecks up my game.
> 
> Followed by the Function key on my keyboard - WHY DO I HAVE IT!? I have seperate keys for F1-F12 already!



Yeah, I forgot about that key.  We have one computer at work that has a keyboard with that, and that key is always getting pressed...  Why in the world would you want to have 2 options for your F1-F12 keys???  Now that I think about it, the Num Lock (more UNlock) option should be removed.  The only time I think that might be useful is if the original key went dead.  Still dumb though...


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## apj101

> The only time I think that might be useful is if the original key went dead. Still dumb though...


i always use the numbers pad for entering numbers, but then i work with numbers all the time


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## DCIScouts

apj101 said:


> i always use the numbers pad for entering numbers, but then i work with numbers all the time



Exactly.


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## Redbull{wings}

leetkyle said:


> The windows key should be locked! I always hit it while trying to find ALT (prone in battlefield 2) and it totally wrecks up my game.
> 
> Followed by the Function key on my keyboard - WHY DO I HAVE IT!? I have seperate keys for F1-F12 already!




I have a suggestion for you when i play fps i have my fingers on wasd my pinky on ctrl(crouch) and my thumb on space(jump) now if you do this too then id suggest when u want to go prone just slide ur thumb from the spacebar to the alt key which is right next to it this way you dont have to spend valuable time looking for the key


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## Geoff

apj101 said:


> i always use the numbers pad for entering numbers, but then i work with numbers all the time





DCIScouts said:


> Exactly.



I always use the numberpad for entering numbers, it's much easier then using the numbers above the keypad.

And unlike apj, I don't use number constently.  I will use the number pad to enter my password, or when im using the calculator, or anything else with numbers in it.


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## dragon2309

dave597 said:


> if you press windows and pause/break it handily goes to system properties in windows. im gonna go with f8 as the most useless key.


F8, are you serious, how do you propose you get into SAFE MODE in Win XP if you didnt have F8...???



			
				[-0MEGA-];411381 said:
			
		

> Alot of new keyboards dont include the "insert" key anymore.  But I actually need one for some CSS mods.


INSERT is a great key, especially if you spend your life inside FTP clients as i do, INSERT creates new directories inside wherever you are browsing, its quite handy



apj101 said:


> i always use the numbers pad for entering numbers, but then i work with numbers all the time


yeh, people who use the top numbers dont deserve to live IMO, harsh but deserved. The numpad is so much easier its unbelievable

dragon


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## dave597

dragon2309 said:


> F8, are you serious, how do you propose you get into SAFE MODE in Win XP if you didnt have F8...???
> dragon


u dont need that key to boot into safe mode, just select other boot options, also havent booted into safe mode since time began.


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## leetkyle

Yeah, whoever mentioned the key between right alt and right windows key - what is that key anyway!?


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## dragon2309

dave597 said:


> u dont need that key to boot into safe mode, just select other boot options, also havent booted into safe mode since time began.


yeh, and how do you get into those other options without hitting F8 at startup??


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## dave597

dragon2309 said:


> yeh, and how do you get into those other options without hitting F8 at startup??


damn u got me there - im sure its another button to get into the boot options, but i cant test that theory until i restart and im not doing that any time soon.


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## dragon2309

dave597 said:


> damn u got me there - im sure its another button to get into the boot options, but i cant test that theory until i restart and im not doing that any time soon.


allow me to save you the bother - http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...ll/proddocs/en-us/boot_failsafe.mspx?mfr=true

dragon


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## Geoff

dragon2309 said:


> yeh, people who use the top numbers dont deserve to live IMO, harsh but deserved. The numpad is so much easier its unbelievable



I used to always use the top numbers, but once I started using the number pad, it made life much easier.  Especially when entering a password thats all numbers.

Sometimes I just remember the order of which to type my pw on the numpad so well, that when i'm on a laptop or something, I can't remember what the password was.


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## diduknowthat

I didn't read the entire post, so i'll probably nominate thigns that ppl have mentioned already...anyways here it goes.

1) scroll lock
2) Home
3) The right click key, one next to the windows and ctrl key


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## dragon2309

liuliuboy said:


> I didn't read the entire post, so i'll probably nominate thigns that ppl have mentioned already...anyways here it goes.
> 
> 1) scroll lock
> 2) Home
> 3) The right click key, one next to the windows and ctrl key


i agree with 1 and 3 but 2.. no, the HOME key i use a lot, when your coding and you finish a massive line of code, some programs dont have scroll bars along the bottom, so you hit HOME and it gets to the beginning of the code line. Pretty handy

dragon


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## DCIScouts

And I use the home key when writing a lot of papers and in little post windows, too...


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## spamdos

i hate the zoom keys on my keyboard because they do not work, but for the conventional keys, i would have to say that i dislike the home key.


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## The_Beast

I hate the enter key. I never even use it. Joking


I really see no use for the windows key.


yea I'm now a Silver member. hooray


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## Tayl

Come to think about it, although I have no idea what the key is called, I never use the key located to the left of the number 1 key and above tab. That ones rendered quite useless with me.


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## DCIScouts

That's the begin quote/tilde key.  The only time I used that was in multiplayer CS and HL (the original) to bring up the menu to enter cheats while playing...


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## ckfordy

Breaks said:


> Come to think about it, although I have no idea what the key is called, I never use the key located to the left of the number 1 key and above tab. That ones rendered quite useless with me.


 

You must not game at all that is to bring up the conosole in most of the Steam games and i belive farcry.  

The most useless keys i think are the windows key i always seem to bump that button when i am gaming thankfully my logitech G15 comes with a key that disables it .  

And another one would be the thing that is next to the right windows key(forgot what its called).  and some other ones would be the pause break key and the caps lock i am always bumping that when i am typing and if i want to capitalize a word ill just use the shift key.


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## harris

what has alt gr ever done?
 and what is that symbol with a mouse on a window key thats like next to the ctrl and window key??? 

why am i so bored that i talk about this?


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## Bobo

harris said:


> what has alt gr ever done?


What is that?


> and what is that symbol with a mouse on a window key thats like next to the ctrl and window key???


That is a right-click button



> why am i so bored that i talk about this?


because nobody replies to your laptop threads 


I use every key all the time, except for the insert and scroll lock keys.  Never knew what either one did.


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## 4W4K3

The Pause/Break key. I don't think I've EVER used that key. I don't even know what it does...someone tell me please


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## Nini

harris said:
			
		

> and what is that symbol with a mouse on a window key thats like next to the ctrl and window key???


its the right click button.. lol.  useless really...thats what a mouse is for



EDIT: haha it was answered above. guess i didnt refresh the page


			
				Bobo said:
			
		

> I use every key all the time, except for the insert


insert i use on the school computers, because when you type and when you go back to fix something it types over the word, so you press insert to put a letter in between the others. never use it at home


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## Bobo

4W4K3 said:


> The Pause/Break key. I don't think I've EVER used that key. I don't even know what it does...someone tell me please


It will pause the screen in certain apps; the only time that I have ever seen it work is in the POST screen.


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## DCIScouts

I've actually had a game or two that used that key to pause the game.  They probably figured that you wouldn't hit it too easily, so it made a good option for that feature...


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## Bobo

Nini said:


> insert i use on the school computers, because when you type and when you go back to fix something it types over the word, so you press insert to put a letter in between the others. never use it at home


Huh, I didn't know that.  Well I have typeover disabled, so it wouldn't be of any use to me anyway


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