Tip 14: Know when the locks are changed

I used to have a problem when it came to typing on the computer keyboard, and I’m sure I’m not the only one to have run into it. The scenario: I’m typing along AT A GOOD PACE. tHEN SUDDENLY i LOOK BACK TO DISCOVER (as I just did) that I’d hit the “Caps Lock” key. Sure there are ways of correcting this in programs like Microsoft Word, but I tend to be more of the mind that I’d like to prevent these problems from happening in the first place.

Fortunately Windows provides a great tool that can be enabled to help you recognize when the “Caps Lock”, “Num Lock” or “Scroll Lock” key are pressed. But before we go there, let’s get us all on the same footing for what the purpose of these keys are to begin with.

Locked and loaded

I’m sure we’ve all had adventures with the Caps Lock key before. As I just stated, the purpose of this key is fairly straightforward: when Caps Lock mode is engaged, all alphabetic characters (“a” to “z”) are typed in upper case (“A” to “Z”). With Caps Lock mode engaged, pressing the C key results in a typed capital “C”.  Because pressing Shift + C normally results in a capital “C” being typed, consider the opposite will happen if Caps Lock mode is engaged: the case is still inverted, so if you type Shift + C, you’ll get a lower case “c”.

Note that number keys are not shifted, that is, Caps Lock mode has no impact on number keys with symbols above them. With Caps Lock mode on, Shift + 2 still types a “2” instead of an “@” sign.

Most modern keyboards sport little lights or other indicators to let you know the state of each of the locking keys. The typical place for these indicators is above the numeric keypad on the standard 104/5 keyboard. But keyboard manufacturers have come up with new places to stash them. Some keyboards even have a little LED light on the Caps Lock key. On the keyboard above, the locking indicators appear in the black area above the brand name (inside the red rectangle). Here’s what the icons often look like:

Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock indicator icons:

Before we move on, take a moment right now to look at your own keyboard and find these indicators.

Please don’t shout at me

The Caps Lock key can be one of the more socially dangerous keys, so I’d like to offer a caution: use this key VERY carefully. If you inadvertently type an email message, instant message or whatever using all capital letters, Internet “netiquette” translates this as SHOUTING OUT LOUDLY WITH RAGE! Thus the term “Screaming Caps” has been used online since online began. If you find yourself writing in all upper case letters, take a few moments to make sure that you mean those words to be said very forcefully—that is how they will be perceived by the recipient.

Some people so dislike the Caps Lock key that they disable it entirely. This is beyond the scope of this article, but if you keep reading, I’ll show you an easy way to make yourself more aware of the potential for screaming caps.

Locking numbers

So what’s the “Num Lock” key for? This one requires a little more of a legacy based answer. In the olden days, the computer keyboard only had 84 keys (give or take a few), arranged in a layout similar to but somewhat different from our modern 104/5 keyboards. These earliest PCs didn’t have a separate numeric key pad and arrow key clusters as 104/5 keyboards have. In fact they had ten rather than twelve function keys (F1 through F10), and those ran down the left side of the keyboard in two columns instead of the single line above the number row as we experience now.

So on these old “XT era” keyboards we still needed a way to input numbers if you came from the accounting side of the office and were proficient at keying in numbers on an adding machine (as I was at the time). But we also needed to have access to the arrow keys, Home, End and others that served dual purposes. So the “Num Lock” key was used to shift these keys between the arrow/directional pad and the numeric keypad.

You will notice that this legacy support still exists on modern keyboards. Look at the number pad area of your desktop computer keyboard on the rightmost side. Notice that the keycaps still include the arrows, Home, End, etc. While I don’t know of anyone using this (except perhaps some really intense gamers), it is interesting to note that the tradition and functionality continues to be implemented.

Nowadays the Num Lock key has become important for notebook users who are used to typing on a traditional numeric keypad: notebooks map the M key to 0, J, K and L to 1, 2 and 3, and U, I and O to 4, 5 and 6. Take a close look at your notebook keyboard and you’ll see the numeric glyphs right there on the key caps for those letters.

So on notebooks in particular, the Num Lock key allows you to do rapid entry of numeric data if you are more familiar with a traditional numeric keypad.

Locking the scroll? Huh?

The “Scroll Lock” is a legacy from those old days where we were stuck with green or amber characters on black computer screens. It was useful to modify how the arrow keys worked, but has for the most part been deprecated by Windows, serving no useful function. I understand it has some use within Microsoft Excel and a small handful of programs, but it’s not a high traffic key on my keyboard. As such, it’s usually bundled up with the “Print Screen” and “Pause” keys (three of the cleanest keys on my grungy keyboard).

The Tip: Detecting unexpected keyboard locks

So getting back to the locking keys and how to determine when you press one either on purpose or by accident: locate the Num Lock key on your keyboard. Now press and hold it down for about five seconds. You should get the following dialog window in Windows XP:

Here is the equivalent dialog window in Windows Vista and Windows 7:

As you can read for yourself, you now have the option of turning on “Toggle Keys” mode. This gives you a distinct “beep” from your computer whenever you press any of the three lock keys.  To disable Toggle Keys mode, repeat the five second press of Num Lock. The beep after the count of five tells you that Toggle Keys is disabled.

The Toggle Keys function is just one of many enhancements to Windows that make the environment easier to use for people with disabilities. But many of these features can be leveraged to help us do our daily computer tasks more efficiently with more feedback. Of course we’ll cover more of them in future tips.

Next time we’ll find a simple and easy way to keep up to date when your favorite websites post new information. See you then…