Microsoft chatbot button– Left-Shift + Windows secret + F23
Scharon Harding – Apr 3, 2024 7:56 pm UTC
Expand/ A Dell XPS 14 laptop computer. The Copilot secret is to the right of the right-Alt button.
In January, Microsoft presented a brand-new secret to Windows PC keyboards for the very first time in 30 years. The Copilot secret, devoted to releasing Microsoft’s eponymous generative AI assistant, is currently on some Windows laptop computers launched this year. On Monday, Tom’s Hardware went into the brand-new addition and figured out precisely what pushing the button does, which is really quite easy. Pressing a computer system’s incorporated Copilot button resembles pushing left-Shift + Windows secret + F23 all at once.
Tom’s Hardware verified this after questioning if the Copilot secret presented a brand-new scan code to Windows or if it worked in a different way. Utilizing the scripting program AutoHotkey with a brand-new laptop computer with a Copilot button, Tom’s Hardware found the keystrokes signed up when a user presses the Copilot secret. The publication verified with Dell that “this essential project is basic for the Copilot secret and done at Microsoft’s instructions.”
F23
Unexpected to see because string of secrets is F23. Having a computer system keyboard with a function row or rows that take you from F1 all the method to F23 is rather unusual today. When I attempt to picture a keyboard that features an F23 button, vintage keyboards enter your mind, more particularly buckling spring keyboards from IBM.
IBM’s Model F, which debuted in 1981 and utilized buckling spring switches a capacitive PCB, and the Model M, which introduced in 1985 and utilized buckling spring switches a membrane sheet, both provided designs with 122 secrets. These designs consisted of not one, however 2 rows of function secrets that would leave today’s 60 percent keyboard fans sweating over the lost area.
Having 122 secrets was practical for keyboards connected to IBM service terminals. The keyboard design even consisted of a bank of secrets to the left of the main alpha block of secrets for a lot more types of input.
Expand/ An IBM Model M keyboard with an F23 secret.
The 122-key keyboard design with F23 lives on. Beyond individuals who still swear by old Model F and M keyboards, Model F Labs and Unicomp both presently offer modern-day buckling spring keyboards with integrated F23 buttons. Another factor a contemporary Windows PC user may have access to an F23 secret is if they utilize a macro pad.
Even with those usages in mind, the F23 secret stays unusual. That assists describe why Microsoft would utilize the secret for introducing Copilot; users are not likely to have actually F23 configured for other functions. This was likewise likely less work than making an essential with a completely brand-new scan code.
The Copilot button is reprogrammable
When I previewed Dell’s 2024 XPS laptop computers, a Dell agent informed me that the incorporated Copilot secret wasn’t reprogrammable.