Wednesday Tech Tip: F-what?

Function buttons – can’t live with them, can probably quite happily live without them. But why are they there? What do they do? Chances are, you’ve probably accidentally hit them in your life, something weird has happened to your computer, and you’ve never discovered how it happened. So, here’s a guide to those pesky little F-buttons, and what you’re likely to find they do if you’re running a PC (Macs have them, but they do entirely different things):

F1: Almost always opens the help menu in any programme
F2: In Windows it’s often used to rename a highlighted icon or file.
F3: Brings up the search box in your internet browser

F4: Will repeat the last action performed in Word
F5: Will perform a hard refresh of your open window in your internet browser.
Will open the Find and Replace box in Word.
F6: Highlights the address bar in internet browsers
F7: Opens the spelling and grammar check in Word
Shift+F7 runs a thesaurus check on a highlighted word
F8: Opens Windows Startup menu
F9: Activates the menu bar on your open application, and allows you to navigate them via your keyboard (particularly handy if your mouse has suddenly stopped working)
F11: Changes the view mode to full screen in your internet browser
F12: Opens the Save As window in Word

[via ComputerHope]