unused keys on keyboard

[Hamada]

So turning on the computer today I realized I have a key on my keyboard with blue letters Fn. No idea what it does AT ALL!!! Really got me thinking that there are a bunch of keys on my keyboard that I do not use and have no idea what would happen if I did.

My limited computer knowledge keeps me from living on the edge and pressing them to just see what happens.

So how about you? Do you use all the keys on your keyboard or do you only just use the ones you are used to, or are you like me and as long as you can type a word that is all the keys you need to know.

[low-1]

Fn is "function". If you look at the other keys, some of them will have letters or symbols written in blue on them. If you press and hold the Fn button while pressing these other buttons, they will perform the "function" written in blue, rather than the normal action. Looking at my work laptop right now, the "PgUp" key has a little symbol written in blue that kind of looks like a small light shining downwards. If I press and hold the Fn button and press the PgUp (page up) button, a little light above the monitor lights up, to illuminate the keyboard if I was working in the dark. The F4 key on the top has a little moon written in blue. Pressing the Fn and the F4 button will put the computer to sleep. ScrLk (Scroll lock) has NmLk (Number lock) as it's function. Pressing this will turn the "mjkluio789" keys into a keypad, "0123456789" respectively. (The "M" key has a small 0 on it, "J" has a small 1 on it, etc etc)

There's not too many buttons I haven't used at one time or another. The F keys (F1 to F12) don't get a lot of use anymore, but back in the days of dos they did. On a windows machine, I still use Alt+F4 from time to time as the keyboard shortcut for "close".

[Contrary Housewife]

I know what most of them do, even if I don't use them all the time. Also it depends on what I am doing with the computer, I use different keys for browsing web sites vs playing games. About the only thing I don't use is the number pad. Never had an application for it.

Knowing your keyboard well comes in very handy when your mouse or your monitor suddenly dies. How do you safely shut down a computer at that point?

[pinetree]

I don't touch anything I havent touched before! I dont even know how to do things on fv for fear I will mess something up. So I just type, post and thats about it.

[Sophiasmama]

I'm not going to lie...don't even know what half of them do or what they are called.

[pop goes the weasel]

My new keyboard has 20 keys that I have no clue what to do with them. All I know is the one with the moon puts it to sleep and I can never get it to wake up lol. I have tried every key when I accidently hit that button and nothing wakes it up

[bookwormpeg]

Have lots of keys I have no idea what they are for and don't care...as long as I can turn computer on and do my thing is all I care about....to know what the keys do and how things work on computer is my hubby's job....I just learned how to do the security check...click the icon on and let it do its thing....but, never knew I had to do that ...that's hubby's job

[dcompton]

I use WordPerfect instead of MS Word whenever I have a choice and I use a few of the F2, F3 etc.

I never use print screen and haven't a clue that SysRq is about. I also never use scroll lock or pause/break (what does that do?) Insert/home/page up and down I rarely use. There's really nothing too weird on the bare bones keyboards we use at work and I have at home.

[valerian]

All I know about "Fn" is I have to hold that key down and push F11 or F12 to make the volume go down or go up. I know how to use most of the keys except for a few of the F's. I could figure them out, but don't like to push keys when I don't know what they do out of fear of messing something up...especially don't do when dh isn't around to fix whatever I mess up! LOL!

[cab54]

I'm a scaredy-cat. I'm afraid pushing a button I'm not familiar with, will put me in 'hyperspace'. That dark and scary place that you can't come back from. An unfamiliar screen, or no screen at all.

Then I'd have to tell someone what an idiot I am, and see if they can help me get back 'home'. Home would be....a place I recognize on my screen.

The keys I'm scared of, though---you can still see the printed letters/numbers on them.

[Hamada]

Right now the letter key e and n are almost completely black. Letter keys a and t are almost black and r is just beginning to go bye bye. Luckily I can type without looking at the keyboard.