Using Ctrl-Alt-Del as a login command was a mistake

Windows users are probably all too familiar with the Ctrl-Alt-Del key sequence. Although it’s commonly associated with closing unresponsive applications through the task manager — and, in fact, it was originally meant to remain a developer-only tool to reboot a computer — it is also used as a way to log into Windows.

Speaking at a Harvard fundraising campaign earlier this week Gates was asked about the decision to use the three-finger sequence as a log in command. Funnily, after explaining they needed a low level way of signaling the OS so malicious software could not fake the login screen during boot and steal passwords, and that wanted a single button “but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design” wouldn’t give it to them, he just sort of gives up and admits — much to the audience’s amusement — that it was a mistake.

I guess that puts the mystery to rest.