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Obscure button tier list
(sh.itjust.works)
If you have "Help" instead of "Ins", replace it with Overgod-tier. Keep pressing it, it will come.
OC, feel free to share.
EDIT; Home is now G-od tier. I didn't know it would go to the beginning of a line, I always used macros "lol".
IT here. I use the F keys any time I have to change bios or bootloader settings, which is about once a month. Worst part is that no manufacturer uses the same F keys for getting into the bios/boot settings, and no bootloader either, windows and Dell change theirs over time. One Generation it's F6 to get into the bios, the next it's F8, and then a generation later it's Del. Sometimes it's F2 and F10 or F11 and F12; and almost never F3, F4, F7.
On a more positive note, Autodesk uses the F keys as hotkeys to toggle settings quickly, which is nice when I put on my drafter hat. I imagine a lot of technical software has figured this out.
I remember using F2 quite often when I was younger, but I can't remember why. I think it might have been New Game in a lot of the Windows built-in games?
That all being said... I get that these keys were originally intended for software to assign to whatever software-specific functions, as a kind of "Function keys," but we've evolved since then, and I much prefer the laptop scheme of having an extra key on the bottom row that modifies all other keys as a kind of "Function key" instead of 12 that don't do anything specific. Of the uses listed above, BIOSes/bootloaders don't have to use F keys instead of regular ones--except possibly standards requiring the other keys to always output specific characters even when the software can't use it, but if that's the case I'd love to see the devs all agree upon which keys open bios settings and which accesses the boot order menu.
I'm also IT, hello brother.
I use the F keys all the time. I would argue that they were, and still are, function keys. They're a built in set of hotkeys to functions. F1 was, and often still is, the hotkey for help. Most people simply default to the menu, about, help or whatever. Using their mouse instead of the keyboard. I find most help dialogs in Windows applications to be fairly useless. They're often populated with incomplete and/or out of date information.
F2 in operating systems is most often used for rename, in my experience. F4, specifically alt+F4 is close, F5 for refresh, F6 varies; the one I know is for the address bar in Chrome. Also in Chrome, F7 is caret browsing, and F12 for developer tools or diagnostics. The keys are not universal and change from app to app, as they should.
IMO F-keys are unsung heros of advanced users, where the majority don't even know what they are there for.
I will agree and commiserate about bios being some selection of F2/F6/F8/F11/F12/delete. Often on a system I have not used in a while, I'll just bang every one of those keys in an effort to get to some menu that will allow me to enter the BIOS/UEFI. It often works, other times I'm just staring at the screen until it tells me what to press, or frantically googling it while the system is shutting down, trying to find the right key before it gets to the BIOS loading screen.
Good luck out there brother.