You must have wondered why these keys, which you cannot press all at once while holding something in one hand, are chosen this way. The reason for this dates back to the early 1980s.
A keyboard shortcut used to reboot the system or run the task manager in Windows. Ctrl+Alt+DeleteIt exists in our lives as a key combination performed by pressing the Delete key at the same time while pressing the Control and Alt keys.
It can be difficult to use, as it is a key combination that requires the use of both hands. This command, which is known as the most effective remedy for confused computers, but can sometimes frustrate the user. The story goes back to ancient times.
Personal computers, which are indispensable parts of our lives, have been used since the early 1980s.
In the emergence of the command, which had a great weight in computer technology at that time, It is signed by the employees of the IBM company. Researchers working on the company’s personal computer project had to reboot the entire system when they encountered a programming problem.
Memory tests performed during user reboot of the system were time consuming.
David Bradley
IBM engineer then David Bradley created a shortcut command that allows the system to reboot without memory tests.
Initially, the Control+Alt+Escape keys were chosen for this purpose.
Since these keys can be pressed with one hand at the same time, in order to prevent accidental restart of the system and data loss. Delete key is preferred instead of Escape. This command, which engineers developed for themselves in the first place and chose keys that are far from each other in order not to cause errors, was later used in the operating system developed by Microsoft.
Bill Gates, one of the founders of Microsoft, made a sincere confession on this issue years later.
Answering a question on the subject posed to him at a panel at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, Bill Gates said that this command can be done with a single click; However, he said that the person who designed the IBM keyboard at that time did not want to give them a single key, and therefore they were programming at a low level, which was a mistake. Bill Gates “If it were up to me, this function would have consisted of a single button.” He stated that he did not like the Ctrl+Alt+Delete shortcut.
Sources: TUBITAK, Digital Age