Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 September 26

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September 26

Windows 8 & Chrome

Band new Lenovo G500s running W8, and I actually really like it, after I crested the learning curve. However, when I was downloading applications to get the computer set up like I wanted, I noticed that in Google Chrome when I would click a download link, it would process like a download was starting, take you to the "thank you" page, etc., but it wasn't doing what I expected. Sometimes it would show the download at the bottom of the screen, but when I would try to click it, nothing happened. Other times it wouldn't even show up at the bottom, and other times it wouldn't even show up in the downloads section of chrome. The things that did show up in the downloads section I was unable to open, show in folder, or anything. The only way I could open the installation programs, etc. that I had downloaded was to search for downloads from the start screen, then run them that way. I then switched to IE to see if it gave me the same problem, and it IE worked like a dream, ran downloads and everything. Is this a problem with the away Chrome interacts with W8, or is it a setting that was imported from my W7 chrome that is messing things up? Any input is appreciated, thanks!--Hubydane (talk) 15:04, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Ctrl-Alt-Del - Gates remark

A few days ago Bill Gates said that Control-Alt-Delete was a mistake, that he wanted one button to do that function, see the last paragraph of Control-Alt-Delete#History. But in those days, Control-Alt-Del immediately rebooted the computer. Is it a good idea to have a single key, which could be pressed accidentally, to reboot the computer - causing you to lose your work> Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 22:24, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I certainly don't think so!!!

Think of how often people inadvertently hit keys such as CapsLock etc. I can't even imagine the horror of having an instant reboot button! --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 23:00, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

If I read the article correctly, I believe he was referring to using it to log in, not to reboot. Mingmingla (talk) 00:22, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that's correct. He was not talking about a single button to reboot the computer. Looie496 (talk) 00:29, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Maybe things are a little confused. Ctrl-Alt-Del was to reboot the IBM PC - you didn't log in to a PC, in those days. He talked about the IBM keyboard design, and that was long before Windows. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 00:54, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Let's look at the actual quote:

"Basically because when you turn your computer on, you’re going to see some screens and eventually type your password in, you want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signalling to a very low level of the software—actually hard-coded in the hardware—that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect,” Gates said. “Instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like your login screen and listens to your password and is able to do that.

”So we could have had a single button, but the guy that wanted to do the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button.,and so we programmed at a low level... it was a mistake.”

It wasn't about a reboot. Mingmingla (talk) 03:40, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

I think he may be not remembering it correctly. Very few early PC were on a network. You turned them on, DOS started, and you got an A: prompt or a C: prompt. The [Ctrl-Alt-Delete]] articles says that Ctrl-alt-del was to reboot the computer if the software locked up, and that is what it did. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:14, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Many laptops have a key next to the keyboard to shut it down. I rarely accidentally press mine. It's just important to keep it a reasonable distance away from more frequently used keys. It's very convenient to have and it's easier to use than having to go the Start menu..—Best Dog Ever (talk) 07:58, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Bubba, back then log-ins were mostly only used if your PC was connecting to a "workgroup" or some other similar network thing. You're correct that individual home computers usually didn't need to log-in, so you'd rarely, if ever, see the whole "Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to Log-In" screen. APL (talk) 14:22, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, very few PCs were on a network in those days. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:06, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

It was OK using a weird combination like Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot machines running DOS and Windows versions running in DOS. The mysterious thing was why the same key combination become used to log on in the Windows versions that came from OS/2 - NT, XP and onwards. It was a totally different action, using the same key combination. Never did understand that. HiLo48 (talk) 08:48, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

This is speculation, but I believe it's because the interrupt vector for Ctrl-Alt-Del already pointed to code that did most of the initialization tasks you would want in a login program, and left the machine in a suitable state for a new user. OldTimeNESter (talk) 12:37, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Having once had a work PC under the desk with the reset button at the perfect height to hit accidentally with my knee (until I turned it around), I can tell you how incredibly annoying that is. I also think the CAPS LOCK key needs to be moved away from the letter A, as I accidentally hit CAPS LOCK at least once a day, and have to rewrite my sentence each time. Heck, I'd be fine with disabling CAPS LOCK completely, and holding down either shift key whenever I want caps. StuRat (talk) 15:21, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

You can reconfigure Caps Lock out of existence pretty easily (at least on X11 and OS X systems). (You're "supposed" to be touch typing anyway, so that you detect the problem after only a few letters.) --Tardis (talk) 13:46, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

We used have keyboards where the caps lock is where the ctrl key is now, and vv. That meant a real three finger salute, unlike now where the ctrl is next to alt, so you can do a two finger salute. Around 1990 were I worked, was a keyboard with a ctrl/alt/del key, but I don't know if it was sold like that or tricked up by one of the engineers; this was the only example I've ever seen. Very handy as we were three finger saluting every 5 minutes. --TrogWoolley (talk) 14:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

In Microsoft office (at least), shift+F3 cycles between text like this, Text Like This, and TEXT LIKE THIS. One of many little known but rather useful features! Unfortunately, it doesn't capitalise proper nouns or the beginning of sentences when you change to lowercase, but that's generally a couple characters to change, rather than a couple lines. MChesterMC (talk) 10:10, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Here's why ctrl-alt-del was used for login in Windows, straight from a Microsoft engineer. The idea of wanting a button to do it probably would have been from this era, not DOS. [1] Katie R (talk) 18:00, 30 September 2013 (UTC)