All of us are quite familiar with our keyboards, some of us more than others, of course, but for the most of us, there are two keys on it that we've found no use for, nor can we even begin to find it. These two keys are (at least, on American keyboards) the Scroll Lock key, and the Pause Break key.

Let's start with Scroll Lock. Scroll Lock is a remnant of earlier computers and their programs, providing a way to lock all scrolling functions in a given program, mostly for convenience, especially with the Arrow Keys. It has a status light associated with it, just like the more important and frequently used Caps Lock and Number Lock keys, which on most keyboards is the one on the farthest right. Usage for the key has gone down over the years, as currently the only programs that truly give it any functionality are Microsoft Excel and FL Studio. It has other uses, aside from its original function to lock the scroll feature, playing a part in voice recognition software in the Opera web browser, and in DOS it will pause the screen, ironically, just like the Pause Break.

Pause Break has its roots in extremely old technology, as it was originally a function on telegraph machines, in which it would pause, or break, the signal, indicating that the operator was about to begin transmission of information, or the line was down. Teletype procedures called for the continuation of this function, but as time went on, the use dwindled to almost nothing. Pause Break will now, in some programs, pause the loading of the program. Otherwise, it's completely useless in modern day applications.

Lotus NotesWhat Are The Pause Break And Scroll Lock Keys?

The Ctrl+Break keyboard combination is extremely useful in Lotus Notes - it will interrupt the program during most processes, which can be handy if something is taking way too long or a server is not responding.

-reply by Scott Petricig

I use the Break keys dozens of times a day. Ctrl-Alt-Break is extremely useful when using RDP, which switches the client between a window and full screen.

-reply by Richard Willis

Ctrl+Break is quite useful for programmings and debuggers using IDE that enables you to stop processes with the break button. I've used it alot in mIRC scripting and some other programs. However scroll key have much lesser usage for me and I don't usually have a need for it. I love scrolling

I always use break when using command prompt, like when I executed commands that I want to stop.
It is also very helpful when coding in C or any other program which outputs using command prompt, when I executed endless loop, CTRL+BREAK is a handy...

I never find any use on Scroll lock though...

System PropertiesWhat Are The Pause Break And Scroll Lock Keys?

I agree the keys are a remnant of old technology but that doesn't mean they are useless.For example the PauseBreak key has been re-purposed by Microsoft. It is used with the Windows key (Window+Break) as a shortcut to call up the System Properties dialog.  As a system integrator and troubleshooter this is an invaluable key combo for me, as it works across Windows versions.

Well you could have bet on it with me. I have nowadays learnt how to make infinte loops on c++ and it is so fun. Well in that if i want to stop a loop that is an infinite one we select pause break or maybe ctrl + pause break. Um i don't know i do it unconsciously. Well, the finction of scroll break i didnt understand now also. I think they should remove these two buttons and add some more nice ones like a direct shutdown one and maybe a a button with a more frequently used and typed word.

you bet!
I've forgotten them both until you showed em now

But, hey, how to use scroll lock in opera voice recognition like you said?

The pause breack is a scroll lock key and they are designed to the old computers when you can print the documents only pushing the Print button. These buttons have some function today for example when you download a screen capturer they use the Print button to capture a part of your screen and save it like an image. But the use of this button is falling since the mouse is in the scene. So they are not unuseless only that their use is falling now and in some keyword they look different and in different position.

So that is a short story about this buttons.

Pause Break usesWhat Are The Pause Break And Scroll Lock Keys?

Like the guy above mentioned - Windows Key + Break brings up System Properties, which is an awesome shortcut.

 

Most KVM switches that I've had use the Scroll lock key (sometimes Scroll Lock x 2 or Scroll Lock + a number) to cycle between the various computers connected to the KVM.  

 

I guess it's nice having "spare" keys around that can be repurposed for random tasks.   I just love keyboard shortcuts, but many people aren't even aware that they exist.

-reply by Scott

What does my "Turbo" button do? I only had 1 PC that had a Turbo feature, but the button didn't do anything. If I wanted to use that function, I had to use the button in the PC its self. That PC is where my keyboard came from. My keyboard also has a "Power", "Sleep" and "Wakeup" button, which does work (power - turn off the PC, sleep - hibernate, wakeup - puts PC out of stand-by mode/screensaver).

As odd as it is, this is all new information to me. I've never even wondered what they were before so I never messed with them. It's interesting to see some of the replies though -- especially the system properties one.

The Turbo button was a form of automated overclocking, or sometimes confusingly, underclocking. They worked by either boosting the clock speed, so that the PC ran faster, in the same way people overclock their PC today, or by slowing it down or disabling the processor's cache. The overclocking has an obvious advantage - to make your PC run faster, although hotter (hence why it wasn't left on all the time). The underclocking was necessary for games that used the processor clock speed for timing. As processors got faster, so did these old games, making them impossible to play. Slowing the processor down made the games playable on newer hardware.

The usual name for some keyboards is the us format with unused keys. Maybe these keys are ment in this description.

Break or pause break - used when you are on command shell or the DOS prompt, this is similar to the bash shell for Linux. Break will signal a shell command/program to stop and halt while Pause Break will either 'Pause' or 'Resume from a Pause'. This buttons are useless now on computers that uses newer operating systems or those that ignore the key.

Scroll Lock - is an ancient button predating to the time when the first mouse was used on text base GUI (graphic user interface) system. The most basic function it serves was to prevent the scroll bars on the right side of this text GUI system from moving up and down (scrolling) when you move your mouse.

The alternate use of this key is when you work on Linux/Unix and you are reading a long manual file invoke by "man command name". This will enable the user to stop the automatic scrolling of text and instead will offer him to scroll up or scroll down. On windows machine this button is totally useless 90% of the time.

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