Why do you need a scroll lock button on your keyboard? What is the Scroll Lock button on the keyboard for?
In fact, this key was once very necessary on older machines, since in the era of console mode, this key allowed you to scroll the position of the information displayed on the monitor screen. In console mode with Scroll Lock disabled, the arrow keys act as cursor controls. But with Scroll Lock enabled, these keys worked like scrolling the screen. This function still works this way in the operating console Linux systems. In addition, in the Linux console, when running any applications that output to it, turning on scroll lock stops the scrolling of the output. But all this is history, and use in deep areas of the IT sphere.
Scroll Lock in Excel
The average user does not need the original functionality of this key. Although there is one application in which this key performs its true function. This table processor Excel from office suite Microsoft company. When Scroll is enabled Lock keys The cursor will scroll the table area instead of moving across table cells. It's worth a try, however, if you're already used to using mouse scroll or the pg up and pg down keys to do this, I don't think you'll find it convenient.
Scroll and Linux
So, very good way use of this thing. The Scroll Lock key itself will be useless to us. Only its indicator is interesting - we can make it work for our convenience. A long time ago, apparently, one of the Linux operating system programmers also noticed that almost no one used this keyboard function. And therefore, it was proposed to use the indicator (light) of this mode to show the inclusion of an additional keyboard layout (language). Many of those who work in Linux use this light bulb as a layout indicator. When I started using Linux, I started using this feature too. And I really liked it.
KbLangLED utility
When, after a while, I had to work under Windows, I felt terribly uncomfortable without this function. In addition, the standard indicator Windows layouts I always remove it from the panel.
But, as it turned out, this is another confirmation of the inviolable truth in the IT world - if you are faced with a problem, do not be lazy to look for its solution on the Internet. There is a very high probability that someone has already encountered your problem, and most likely a solution has been found. After several minutes of searching, the solution was indeed found. There is a very small utility written by some kind person, which also needed a Scroll LED layout indication.
Called this program— KbLangLED. I don’t even remember where I dug it up, but I think it won’t be difficult - it has spread across many file hosting services and file dumping sites - just type its name into a search engine and you will find it without difficulty. Then all you have to do is run executable file, and then when you switch keyboard layouts, the Scroll LED on your keyboard will light up. It is enough to place the executable file of the program in startup, and this function will always work for you. When the default layout is enabled, the light will not light up. When you change the layout to an additional one in your system, for example, Russian, the light will be turned on. By the way, it is the English keyboard layout that is most convenient as the default layout.
Here's the trick. In fact, this is very convenient, because the indicator on the keyboard is visible in peripheral vision, which allows you to always know what layout is in the keyboard without being distracted from your work. at the moment installed.
On standard computer keyboard There is one button whose purpose is unclear to many users. As you probably guessed, this is the Scroll Lock key. Let's try to figure out what this key was intended for and what its features are.
A little history
The name “Scroll Lock” translated from English means “lock scrolling”. This key is located in the same block with the service keys " Print Screen" and "Pause/Break" (usually between them). She first appeared on standard keyboard a computer that many cannot even imagine - the IBM PC XT.
In those distant times, they didn’t even dream of a graphical mode of the operating system - all information was displayed on the screen line by line in text form. In this mode, new lines appeared at the very bottom of the screen, moving old information up. Naturally, if a sufficiently large array of data was displayed, the user simply physically did not have time to read everything, and therefore a special “Scroll Lock” button was invented, stopping the scrolling of the text and turning it on again when pressed again.
Scroll Lock functions
Of course, in modern operating systems Using the “Scroll Lock” key for its intended purpose is no longer possible, but it still remains active. The button has an indicator showing whether it is activated present moment or not. Typically, in the active (pressed) state, the user can control the scrolling of the screen using the keyboard. You can see this for yourself by opening a large table in Microsoft Excel. Press "Scroll Lock" and see how it scrolls now work area using arrows.
In Linux-like operating systems, this key is still used for its intended purpose - stopping text scrolling. This key is used in some games (Delta Force, Cossacks, etc.), and some utilities actively use key combinations with “Scroll Lock”.
To disable scroll lock when enabled, press the Scroll Lock key (usually labeled ScrLk) on your keyboard. If your computer does not have a Scroll Lock key, do one of the following:
On Windows 10
Start > settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.
To turn it on, click the button On-screen keyboard.
ScrLk.
Advice: To quickly open on-screen keyboard on Windows 10, click Windows button. Start typing On-screen keyboard, which will be displayed in the search field. In the field search which will appear as a list above the search field, click the search result On-screen keyboard. When the on-screen keyboard appears, press ScrLk.
On Windows 8.1
If your keyboard does not have a Scroll Lock key on your computer, press Start and press CTRL keys+ C to show the Charms bar.
Click the button Change computer settings.
Select Accessibility > Keyboard.
Click the button On-screen keyboard slider to enable it.
When the on-screen keyboard appears, press the button ScrLk.
On Windows 7
If your keyboard does not have a SCROLL LOCK key, press the Start > All programs > StandardAccessibility > Keyboard.
When the on-screen keyboard appears, press the button slk.
Note: To close the on-screen keyboard, press X in the right top corner on-screen keyboard.
Troubleshooting SCROLL LOCK mode
You can determine that SCROLL LOCK mode is enabled by the inscription Scroll Lock in the Excel status bar.
If SCROLL LOCK appears to be enabled, but you don't see Scroll Lock in Excel's status bar, the status bar may be configured to not display the SCROLL LOCK status. To determine if this is the case, right-click Excel's status bar. Find the checkbox to the left of the option Scroll Lock. If it is not installed, then when SCROLL LOCK mode is enabled, Excel will not display Scroll Lock in the status bar. To display it, simply check the box.
A check mark indicates that the status bar will display the SCROLL LOCK mode status.
This question often confuses beginners. And indeed, looking at the keyboard, you can notice that these three buttons are covered with dust (if the keyboard is not looked after and cleaned in a timely manner) - they are used or extremely rarely.
However, on almost any keyboard you are sure to find these three keys. And even in laptops, where the size of the keyboard is strictly limited and there is a struggle for every millimeter, these buttons are present.
They are usually located next to each other in one horizontal block. Let's find out what these three mysterious buttons are for.
Scroll Lock
Most often used in editors. Enables scrolling mode, when when you press the cursor control keys (arrows), not the cursor itself moves, but the entire page along with it. This is very convenient when you don't want to lose your location for entering text, but at the same time you need to temporarily move to another part of the text or document. Open Excel and try moving the cursor with the Scroll Lock button on and off.
Lights up when this key is pressed
Curiosities also happen. If this button is accidentally enabled, the behavior various programs(for example, Lotus Notes or Microsoft Excel) may change, but beginners are often lost because they do not know the reason and restart the computer - restarting automatically turns off the Scroll Lock action. Enabling this function is usually duplicated LED indicator(one of three) on the keyboard. So if programs behave unusually, check to see if this key is enabled.
Of the three buttons described, the buttons are the most rarely used, so when saving space on the keyboard, engineers start with this one.
Print Screen (PrtScr or Print Scrn)
When you click on Print Screen, a screenshot is created in the clipboard, which can then be pasted into any editor, edited if necessary and saved in the required format, or pasted into a letter and immediately sent by mail. On Windows, pressing Alt + Print Screen allows you to take a photo only active window, not the entire screen.
In some ways, the screen removal procedure is duplicated by the built-in Scissors tool, but in certain situations, using individual programs difficult, but Print Screen always works flawlessly.
Pause (Break)
Most often used to temporarily pause the computer boot. For example, when starting a PC, you may need to look at the system parameters on the screen, but they flash by with rapid speed. This is where Pause comes in handy - it will allow you to study all the information in detail, after which you can continue working by pressing any key.
Pause is also used in some programs. For example, in Punto Switcher it overrides the keyboard layout auto-correction if you type a phrase in the wrong language.
It is clear that of all three buttons described to the average user The only thing that might come in handy is Print Screen. But as your knowledge expands, they will certainly become part of your everyday life. In addition, a question about the purpose of these keys can easily land a novice specialist “bending his fingers” in a puddle.
(When the mouse did not yet have a wheel....)
In general, there are several of these “mysterious” keys. Not all of them “survived” when transferred to laptop keyboards, but on “full-fledged” keyboards desktop computers they are present. It should be especially noted that keyboard manufacturers are trying to cram into their products additional keys, but the trouble is that the code generated by the keyboard when you press this key must be understood by that application program, with which the user is currently working. And not all programmers are delighted with the appearance of new keys on the keyboard. It is much easier for them to read the code generated by such “mysterious” keys and perform some action by pressing them, than to focus on the release of “original” keyboards, which may not yet catch on.
But let's return to our keys. Among these “mysterious” keys, in addition to Scroll Lock, one can also name such incomprehensible keys as Num Lock and Sys rq. To understand their purpose, you need to plunge into very recent history. When standards personal computers were just being formed, and there was a “natural selection”, including the keys on the keyboard.
The first “application for a standard,” in my opinion, can be considered the 83-key keyboard for PC XT, the prototype of a personal computer based on the i8088/i8086 processor, where the designated keys first appeared. Judging by the literature, 84-key and 86-key keyboards could be supplied with them, but the logical continuation of this development of the keyboard was the 101/102-key keyboard, supplied with personal computers based on the 286 processor and beyond, built according to the architecture that received the name AT, unlike the previous HT, and the Scroll Lock button and its comrades migrated there too.
But why is it needed?
The Scroll Lock key was necessary to interact with the cursor keys, do you see those up-down, left-right arrows on the keyboard? So, pressing this key switched the scrolling mode, either you moved the cursor with these keys, or the entire screen. This was required by IBM and Microsoft because they were slightly behind Apple, which initially did not have this key on their keyboards as unnecessary. But then they added it too.
In general, the meaning of the existence of these keys has long been lost, but they remain on keyboards both as a tribute to tradition and as a tribute to rare programs that may be able to use them.
Well, briefly on other incomprehensible keys.
Num Lock key – switches numeric keypad to cursor control mode (replacing, if necessary, the dedicated arrow keys).
But the Sys Rq key is a very interesting key that does not have a clear purpose. Or rather, practically none. This key is for advanced users and is used in combination with other keys. Accordingly, you need to know these keyboard shortcuts.
In general, the history of the development of personal computers is fraught with many secrets and absurdities, I have already mentioned one absurdity, the limitation on the upper limit of the available RAM at 640 Kilobytes. But this is of interest only to specialists.
The other keys are all intuitive