Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 May 24

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May 24

Control commands in Windows 8.1

In a question that I asked above (with the heading of "Copy and paste"), another editor made mention of the Control-Z command to reverse an unwanted "paste" command from Control-V. I had never heard of the Control-Z command before reading his comment above. So, my question is this: is there somewhere that all of the Control commands are listed, along with their function? I assume there are many (Control-A, Control-B, etc.). Where can I find a list of all of these and of what they are designed to do? If it matters, I am referring to the Windows 8.1 operating system. Thanks! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:40, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

See Table of keyboard shortcuts for some of the more common shortcuts. Most editing shortcuts are implemented by each application rather than by the operating system. However, the most common shortcuts are almost universally applicable to all applications, including many of the editing shortcuts such as cut, copy, paste, undo, select-all, find, and replace. These shortcuts are usually listed next to their equivalent menu items. If you open Notepad or any other editor and click on the Edit menu, you will see that many of these shortcuts listed next to their equivalent menu items. A Google search for "shortcuts cut copy paste undo redo 'select all' open close new save" yields many other lists - both general and application-specific. -- Tom N talk/contrib 20:29, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

I agree with the previous poster that most (if not all) of these shortcuts are application-specific. Each application can choose whether or not to support all of these things - and it can decide which keys do which things.

That said, there are some shortcuts that are almost 100% universal. Control-Z actually means "Undo" in most programs - so it doesn't just "reverse an unwanted paste" - it reverses whatever the last thing you did was.

While editing this very page in your browser, you can type a Control-Z and it'll undo the last thing you typed. How much gets "undone" with each control-Z, and how many times you can undo varies wildly between applications.

SteveBaker (talk) 15:34, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, both. OK, that makes sense. So is there a list somewhere, anywhere, of the universal commands? As opposed to the application specific ones? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 18:26, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

I believe they are all application specific, but that most applications implement the same standards. --Phil Holmes (talk) 12:38, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Here's Microsoft's official documentation. [1] Katie R (talk) 14:50, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:04, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Longer Tooltip duration in Windows7

The mouse hover tool-tips disappear too fast (after 2 or 3 seconds)!
This happens both on the PortableApps.com start menu (where I need it now) but the same seems to be the case everywhere else in Windows7 on my PC.
Could you please help me make tool-tips stay for maybe 12 seconds? --46.15.9.9 (talk) 18:51, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

I've had a similar problem myself. Personally, I'd like the tool-tips to stay there until I move the mouse away, but I don't know how. I sometimes end up using the Print Screen button on the keyboard, then pasting it in MS Paint, to read it at my leisure. StuRat (talk) 13:11, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

It's actually based off the double-click time. The mouse has to hover over an item for the same amount of time as the double-click time before the tool tip appears. It remains visible for 10 times the double-click time. You can tweak the mouse double-click time in the control panel. [2]

Katie R (talk) 13:25, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

I should add that the default is .5 sec, so the tool tip appears for 5 seconds. Twelve seconds would mean slowing the double-click speed down to 1.2 seconds, which could get annoying. Katie R (talk) 13:29, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Now why on Earth do they think it takes you exactly 10 times your double click setting time to read a tool-tip ? They might as well have made it random. StuRat (talk) 17:08, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

The key line from the source I linked is "If you go into the mouse control panel and speed up your double-click speed, then you'll find that other user interface operations tend to speed up as well. The double-click time is a sort of barometer for how good the user's reaction time is." A lot of the little timing tweaks probably make sense if you don't want Microsoft introducing an overly complicated UI with a dozen sliders for minor UI timing settings. However, I do agree that reading speed doesn't have much to do with the "reaction time" idea that works for the other components. Microsoft has UI guidelines that make sure tool-tips stay short and sweet, so 5 seconds is plenty for most components of Windows. The problem is that third-party programs don't always follow those guidelines and can pack far too much into them. There is a supported method for programs to specifically set the display time for their own tool-tips that can be used for displaying long tips, but if the program doesn't specify that time Windows uses the default. Katie R (talk) 18:56, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

If they are going to make it a set length, they should at least adjust for the amount of text in the tool-tip. But I'd still prefer that it stay up as long as I keep the mouse there. StuRat (talk) 11:49, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Nukin' and pavin'

When you nuke and pave your OS ("Reset your PC" in Windows 8, or System Recovery in earlier Windows versions), does this completely restore the registry to factory condition as well? I think it does, but I want somebody who knows for sure to either confirm or deny it. 24.5.122.13 (talk) 19:40, 24 May 2014 (UTC)
Stupid question -- I've looked at the article about automated system recovery, and it says that it does in fact completely restore the registry along with everything else. 24.5.122.13 (talk) 23:52, 25 May 2014 (UTC)