Author Topic: Poll : What is the most useless key on the keyboard (Read 25842 times)

brett · « **on:** February 10, 2007, 07:22 AM »

If you had to physically remove a key from your keyboard, what one could you do without.

It has to be a single key, so combinations are not allowed.
No multimedia extra buttons are in this poll, just a standard keyboard.

This poll is to find out what keys might be good to use for shortcuts in small/quick scripts.

After this poll has finished, I will also do a poll for the most annoying Key on the Keyboard.

poll runs for 30days

Brett

jgpaiva · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2007, 07:31 AM »

~~Add more options!! More specifically a "other" option and "don't care" option.~~
For me, the most useless (and also the most anoying) key in my keyboard is definitelly the 'insert' key. I always wondered why people invented that thing. I even removed it from my external keyboard, because i kept inadvertely pressing it, and overwriting stuff!

nudone · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2007, 07:35 AM »

can't vote as there isn't a 'scroll lock' or an 'insert'. i'd include 'pause break' but mouser found a use for that key. i guess numlock doesn't have much use if you don't use the arrow keys on the numpad - who does?

kfitting · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2007, 08:51 AM »

Well, at work I press scroll lock all the time - it's part of my KVM's hotkey (uncustomizable).

But, I would have to say that the "right-click" key is the most unused key on my keyboard.

The other two that are right up there are right-ctrl and right-alt, in that order.

Kevin

cranioscopical · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2007, 09:33 AM »

i guess numlock doesn't have much use if you don't use the arrow keys on the numpad - who does?

I do.

(Personally, I always find f29 to be a bit of a stretch, though.)

nudone · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2007, 09:41 AM »

Well, at work I press scroll lock all the time - it's part of my KVM's hotkey (uncustomizable).

But, I would have to say that the "right-click" key is the most unused key on my keyboard.

The other two that are right up there are right-ctrl and right-alt, in that order.

Kevin
-kfitting (February 10, 2007, 08:51 AM)

you are right, kfitting. these keys are so useless i had completely forgotten that they were there: alt-gr (or right alt), right winkey, right click menu key and right ctrl.

i can honestly say that i think i've never hit the right winkey - not even out of curiosity.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2007, 09:46 AM »

Notice that there's no right winkey, num-lock or scrl-lock in laptops!
(actually, there's num-lock and scrl-lock, but you can only get to those through fn-key, which renders those unnusable)

app103 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 10, 2007, 10:30 AM »

The turbo key.

All the combos except turbo+F11 don't even work. (and I can even live without that combo)

drumtrucker · « **Reply #8 on:** February 10, 2007, 01:00 PM »

the 'enter' key

tranglos · « **Reply #9 on:** February 10, 2007, 02:08 PM »

For me, the most useless (and also the most anoying) key in my keyboard is definitelly the 'insert' key. I always wondered why people invented that thing. I even removed it from my external keyboard, because i kept inadvertely pressing it, and overwriting stuff!
-jgpaiva (February 10, 2007, 07:31 AM)

Heh, I can't live without Insert. Word has always had a fantastic feature which makes Insert work as Ctrl+V, ie Paste. It's much, much faster that way for me. I find Ctrl+Insert for Copy fast than Ctrl+C too, perhaps because I'm better at using my right hand.

I carried that over to some of the programs I've written, using Insert to mean "add new [thing]", where "thing" is whatever the program is designed to handle, e.g. add a new address in an addressbook, add a new password in a password manager, etc.

The upshot is, I cannot work with any of the newer keyboards where the insert/delete/home/end/pgup/pgdn keys are not arranged in two rows, 3+3. Any other layout and I'm helpless

tranglos · « **Reply #10 on:** February 10, 2007, 02:15 PM »

I've voted Scroll Lock, because very few programs use it anymore. But it does have a useful function - when engaged, you should be able to scroll any window without moving the caret. It still works in Excel 2003, but has been mostly forgotten by programmers today. It's great when you want to scroll to see something in a document but don't want to lose your current position. It's more or less the same as scrolling with the wheel without ever clicking the document anywhere.

Other than that, I'd vote for Pause/Break, which has absolutely no purpose in a multitasking OS, but now that I'm using mouser's Find and Run Robot, the Break key is back in action.

tranglos · « **Reply #11 on:** February 10, 2007, 02:21 PM »

But, I would have to say that the "right-click" key is the most unused key on my keyboard.

The other two that are right up there are right-ctrl and right-alt, in that order.
-kfitting (February 10, 2007, 08:51 AM)

All this goes to show is that no keys should ever be removed, ever

I love the right-click key, because it gives me the context menu without using the mouse. Shift+F10 should also do that, but many programs ignore it or override with other functionality.

Right ctrl is awfully useful for clipboard and navigation actions with home/end/insert/delete keys. And without right alt you couldn't type national characters in any non-Western language. Right Alt (sometimes called AltGr, for "alternate graphic") adds all the twiggly tails and accent marks to latin characters. I couldn't type in Polish at all without right alt.

On edit: Wikipedia has a whole article on AltGr, quite informative too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altgr

cthorpe · « **Reply #12 on:** February 10, 2007, 02:37 PM »

I voted for Caps Lock. I don't need permanent caps, and my students are always freaking out because it gets turned on and they forget about it. Many of my students still insist on using it to make capital letters rather than holding shift.

Carl

jgpaiva · « **Reply #13 on:** February 10, 2007, 03:44 PM »

I support the "don't kill altgr" motion because i need it for {[]}@£§. I also support the "don't kill caps lock" motion, i use it while typing

edbro · « **Reply #14 on:** February 10, 2007, 04:18 PM »

Notice that there's no right winkey, num-lock or scrl-lock in laptops!
(actually, there's num-lock and scrl-lock, but you can only get to those through fn-key, which renders those unnusable)
-jgpaiva (February 10, 2007, 09:46 AM)

Hmmm, my HP laptop has a Win key.

No key is useless if you use a macro program. Personally, I use Powerpro (freeware) to assign macros, menus, functions, etc to all kinds of keys and key combinations.

mouser · « **Reply #15 on:** February 10, 2007, 06:56 PM »

I think Brett secretly hates num lock.. he's trying to rig this poll against it by mentioning it twice.

brett · « **Reply #16 on:** February 10, 2007, 07:14 PM »

Ooops, thanks mouser

have changed the second Num Lock to 'The other windows key'
The one on the right of the space bar, between Alt and Cntrl, at least on my keyboard.
Some menu key of sorts, at least I dont use it.

Thanks
Brett

Darwin · « **Reply #17 on:** February 10, 2007, 09:58 PM »

Like kfitting, if the Right Mouse button key had been an option I would have gone for it (it's what I had in mind as I navigated to this thread to vote). As it is, Scroll lock is a key that I use even less so I happily voted for it instead. At least the Right Mouse Button key has an appreciable function and it's convenient when typing to hit it to invoke the context menu..

kfitting · « **Reply #18 on:** February 11, 2007, 06:01 AM »

Caps lock is a must have! I do CAD drafting at work and it's essential when all text on a drawing is supposed to be uppercase.

Kevin

jgpaiva · « **Reply #19 on:** February 11, 2007, 06:25 AM »

I think that the 2 best keys for this kind of thing are the windows key and the right-click key.
Notice that none of the two will lose thir original use when used as modifiers for scripts.
The right-click key can still be pressed and released and you get the same behaviour. The only difference would be that when you press it and another key at the same time, you get a different behaviour.
Another key i use on my scripts (the ones for personal use) as modifier is the '<' key.

katykaty · « **Reply #20 on:** February 11, 2007, 10:33 AM »

The one in the top left corner next to the numbers - with a capital L laying on its side, an apostrophe swaying over at 45 degrees, and a vertical line.

Lashiec · « **Reply #21 on:** February 12, 2007, 07:41 AM »

I'm split between the "Insert" key, and the "Scroll Lock" one. Does anyone knows the utility of these keys?

tranglos · « **Reply #22 on:** February 12, 2007, 07:54 AM »

I'm split between the "Insert" key, and the "Scroll Lock" one. Does anyone knows the utility of these keys?
-Lashiec (February 12, 2007, 07:41 AM)

Yeah, see my post above

CWuestefeld · « **Reply #23 on:** February 12, 2007, 10:42 AM »

I have a coworker who actually physically removes his CapsLock key.

For me, I'd kill SysRq if it weren't attached to PrintScreen. Its story is just too sad, at least as I heard it. At a hardware level, this key is what should carry the ctl-alt-del function of Windows: it's interrupt isn't maskable even when some rogue process has run away with your CPU. But MS dropped the ball on this decades ago.

tomos · « **Reply #24 on:** February 12, 2007, 12:44 PM »

I voted caps lock,
but:
just got the idea here lately to "swap" Ctrl & Caps Lock keys (in some thread where they were talking about Wordstar amongst others ..)

I personally have disabled Apps (context menu) key, (well now it's Ctrl as well, courtesy AHK) -
cause I keep hitting it by mistake when using Ctrl+__ combinations. (Bad [lefthanded] keyboard user!)

This poll is to find out what keys might be good to use for shortcuts in small/quick scripts.
-Brett

I think right windows key would be a good choice - I never use it - not even accidentally

Scoll Key - didn't even know it - anyone know what its called on a german keyboard .. ahh, "Rollen" I guess, I've never used it.
just checked:
"English" Laptop (Old IBM thinkpad) has only one key Num Lck/Scrl Lck (works with shift i guess)

Dug out an english speaking keyboard - has "Turbo" but dont think theres an equivalent on the deutsch one

EDIT: changed vote to "other windows key"