What Does Control-Alt-Delete Mean?
Control-Alt-Delete is a computer keyboard keystroke combination (Control, Alt and Delete) that was conceived by David Bradley, a designer of the original IBM personal computer. It is a command for IBM PC-compatible systems that can be used to restart the computer. On more recent versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, Control-Alt-Delete is used to call up the task manager program. Control-Alt-Del also summons administrative functions such as the “End Task” feature when a program crashes or gets stuck. On X window systems it is used to call the logout dialog box.
The Control-Alt-Delete key combination is sometimes called the three-finger salute.