What the heck is a toggle key?

What the heck is a toggle key?

 I’m really glad you asked this one! I ignored the word toggle during the first 5 years of using my computer because I had no idea what it was and was too embarrassed to admit it.

In the computer world, the word ‘toggle’ comes up a lot. Basically to toggle means to switch from one setting to another. You can toggle between screens on your computer. There are toggle tools that let you enable and disable Adobe Flash while you are browsing the internet. A toggle key allows you to toggle (ya think?) – or switch – between key functions.

In Windows, there are three toggle keys.

Caps Lock: You can toggle between capitals and lower-case letters.

Num Lock: You can toggle between numbers and no numbers. When the Num Lock is off, then you can use the other functions on the keys instead, i.e. the arrows, Home, End, etc (see chart below).

Scroll Lock: This key isn’t used for much toggling of anything anymore (I personally have never used it). Modern software doesn’t usually support Scroll Lock, but there are exceptions, such as Microsoft Excel. In Excel when the Scroll Lock is off, you go from cell to cell with your arrow keys. With Scroll Lock on, you can scroll the whole page with the arrow keys on the number pad; the cells stay in the same place and don’t scroll with you. You can even turn Scroll Lock on and off from within Excel. Thus, if you happen to find software that works with Scroll lock, you can turn it on and pause what’s on the screen while you scroll, or when it’s off, just scroll normally.

Standard Keyboard:

There you go; toggle keys in a nut shell.

One added note: Sometimes toggle keys can accidentally get turned on (especially the Caps Lock key). If you would like a handy tip on how to be notified as soon as these keys are hit by accident, then click here

I hit my stupid Caps Lock key all the time on accident, but I know there are alarms and such I can turn on to notify me. How do I do this?

Don’t you hate it when you accidentally hit the Caps Lock key? Sometimes I have a whole sentence typed in before I realize my mistake! (I know, GASP!)

What if you could set your computer up so it alerts you when your pinky finger wanders off and taps the Caps Lock key? With this tip, I’ll show you how to make your computer beep & flash the next time it happens.

The first thing you’ll need to do is get the computer to beep when you hit the Caps Lock key. Here’s how:

XP Users, hit the Start button, Control Panel. Open the Accessibility Options Icon.

On the Keyboard tab , click the Use Toggle Keys checkbox.

That’s it for the beeping part.

Next, we need to get your screen to flash you, err, flash at you. Here’s how:

From the Accessibility Options screen, click the Sound tab and check the Use SoundSentry checkbox.

Next, select Flash active window from the Choose the visual warning drop down box.

That’s it. Hit OK until you’re clear of property and settings screens . Open your favorite word processor and hit your Caps Lock key.

Cool huh?

P.S. If you don’t have an Accessibility Options icon in your Control Panel, you may not have it installed.

To install, hit your Start button, Settings, Control Panel . Open the Add / Remove programs icon and click the Windows Setup tab. You’ll be able to add components from there. Keep in mind you’ll need your Windows CD!

To make your Windows 7 computer beep and flash at you, hold the Windows key and press U (Win+U) to bring up the Ease of Access Center. The links you need can be found under Explore all settings.

To add sounds, click on the Make the keyboard easier to use link. In the dialog box that pops up, checkTurn on Toggle Keys.

For visual notification, choose Use text or visual alternatives for sounds.

source.>worldstat .com