Three-finger salute

In computing, the three-finger salute is a jocular term for the keyboard combination that forces a soft boot or jump to ROM monitor (on machines that support such a feature). It is also known as the "Vulcan nerve pinch" or "Vulcan death grip" from the original Star Trek TV series.

Platform	Key combo	Function
Amiga	Ctrl + Left Amiga + Right Amiga	Reboot the machine
some Amigas	Ctrl + Commodore + Amiga	Reboot the machine
IBM PC under DOS	Ctrl + Alt + Del	Reboot the machine
IBM PC under Windows	Ctrl + Alt + Del	Bring up login screen or enter task manager
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	Enters 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 X	Command + Option + Esc	Force quit applications
SGI workstation	Left Shift + Left Ctrl + Left Alt + Keypad Divide + F12
Commodore 64	Left Shift + Ctrl	Reboot the machine
	Run/Stop + Restore	Halt and return to READY prompt
X Window System	Ctrl + Alt + Backspace	Restarts windowing system, logging the user out.

The "three-finger salute" is named after the one-finger salute, a euphmistic name for a rude hand gesture.

---

Article based on Three-finger salute (http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?query=three+finger+salute) at FOLDOC (http://www.foldoc.org), used with permission.