Three-finger salute
In computing, the three-finger salute is a jocular term for the keyboard combination that forces a soft boot, brings up the process manager (on Windows or Mac OS X) or a jump to ROM monitor. These keys are sometimes referred to in computer manuals as interrupt keys, since they are often used to interrupt the operation of a malfunctioning program. The "three-finger salute" is named after the one-finger salute, a euphemistic name for a rude hand gesture. Other humorous synonyms include the "Vulcan nerve pinch" or "Vulcan death grip" from the original TV series.
| Platform | Key combo | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Acorn Machines (pre-1987) | Break | Soft reset the machine (hold down Ctrl as well for hard reset, hold down SHIFT to boot from disk) |
| Acorn Machines (post-1987) | Reset key | Soft reset the machine (hold down Ctrl as well for hard reset, hold down SHIFT to boot from disk. On some later systems, the SHIFT key would have an opposite effect.) |
| Amiga | Ctrl + Left Amiga (or Commodore) + Right Amiga | Reboot the machine |
| IBM PC under DOS and Windows (pre-95) | Ctrl + Alt + Del | Reboot the machine |
| IBM PC under Windows (post-95 and NT) | Ctrl + Alt + Del, Ctrl + Shift + Esc | Bring up login screen at login (or enter task manager post-NT 4) |
| IBM PC under other OS | Ctrl + Alt + Del | Often (but not always) configured to reboot |
| Sun workstation | L1/Stop + A | Enter ROM monitor |
| Sun workstation (serial console) | Break | Enter ROM monitor |
| Apple II family machines | Ctrl + Reset | Enter the monitor or ROM BASIC |
| Ctrl + Cmd + Reset | Reboot the machine | |
| Ctrl + Option + Reset | Enter BIOS setup, then reboot | |
| Ctrl + Option + Apple + Reset | Self-test, then reboot | |
| Some Apple Macintosh computers | Cmd + Power | Enter monitor |
| Control + Cmd + Power | Reboot the machine | |
| Mac OS (7 and later) | Command + Option + Esc | Force quit applications |
| SGI workstation | Left Shift + Left Ctrl + Left Alt + Keypad Divide + F12 | |
| Commodore 64/128 | Run/Stop + Restore | Halt (soft reconfiguration) and return to READY prompt |
| X Window System | Ctrl + Alt + Backspace | Restarts windowing system, logging the user out if using XDM or similar, kills X otherwise |
| TI-89 | 2nd + Left Arrow + Right Arrow + On | Restarts the calculator and resets all settings to defaults |
David Bradley, inventor of the Control-Alt-Delete combination for the original IBM PC.
The salute of the Boy Scouts of America is done using three fingers.
Article originally based on Three-finger salute at FOLDOC, used with permission.See also