Three-fingered salute?
That was "Dib dib, dob dob" wasn't it, with your three fingers across your forehead as Arkela spoke and you watched the flag being raised (sorry - this memory seems to be coming from a long gone, Kipling-esque world. Frightening).
But apparently, the phrase is one used to describe the familiar Ctrl+Alt+Del command that we all use in times of tech desperation. Well, never heard of it.
No matter. Bill Gates has admitted the triple-key move was a mistake and that a single key should have done the trick. But we're talking about two different issues here. One is using the function to log on - something that isn't the case on many PCs - the second is using it as a kind of "Mayday! Mayday! Abandon computer! Abandon computer! Too bad if you lose the doc! Too bad if you lose the doc!" function that surely all of us have resorted to in extremis.
And here, the three-step function works well. It gives you a satisfying mini build-up. It's like a cartoon fight: take that, biff! (Ctrl), and this, baff! (Alt), and this, kapow!! (Del) which sends the problem reeling away from you.
Of course, there are other computer commands - or cries really - which are used equally often: "Oh for f***'s sake!", "Yes, I'm writing a letter. Now p*** off!", "No, I don't know whether I want to revert to the original saved doc - stop asking me questions …"
If you're lucky a calm period ensues. It's all going well now. Tum te tum, tum te tum, rattle rattle rattle, ping that off, there it goes, tum te tum, finish this … until, down there in the corner, the little voice: "You have unused icons on your desktop. Do you want me to tidy them up?" (or whatever the wretched wording is).
The cheek of it! All right, so your desktop looks like Culloden the morning after, and there are some docs there which might as well be in Sanskrit for all they mean to you now, but it's your mess, no? You like it like that. It's creative. It's Picasso for Word.
And besides, it's a mess that is contained within the screen. It's not as if it spreads to the desk … er … well, that's all important stuff too … maybe not the fake brick (office party 2010), but …
The other command is Ctrl+Alt+Del Boy. This sees your PC loaded into the back of a yellow van. Problem sorted.
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