How can I find out what the "F" keys at the top of my keyboard are for?

What exactly is it that you want to know about them? They do a lot of different things, depending on what program you're using. F1 is usually a help key, in a lot of standard programs. F8 and/or F10 are often used as keys that can be hit at startup to bring up setup keys.

In 18 years of computer use, I have never discovered what the purpose of each F key is. Is there some place I can go to discover the answers for each key?

Please don't take any offence to the the site that this is at, but it's actually a pretty good description of what some of them are good for, in Windows:

http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/howto/a2003-03-28-functionkeys.html

Evan, that's a great site! Do you know if AARP has other computer help sites? Unfortunately my computer is a Mac.

Are you trying to figure out what the f-keys do, or what the little symbols on the f-keys do (for a mac)?

Not the symbols--just the function of each key

The functions change depending on the program you're using -- although most mac programs don't use the fkeys very often.

Each progrram, like Excel or Windows?

Where is a list of each F key function in each mac program?

In the Finder, however, (where you browse your hard drive) there are specific uses for the fkeys, and i think you can check them out at System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse

You'd have to check the specific help files for each program. I bet Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, etc) use f-keys. But maybe not on Mac.

Thank you, Andrew. The System Preferences will do the trick. I just have to hook up to a printer so that I can remember them.

the 'F' (Function) keys do different things depending on the program they're in. F1 usually opens some sort of Help Documentation. F5 in most browers will 'refresh' the current page. All programs do not necessarily have Function keys preset, but most popular applications (like anything from Microsoft or Apple) will. When in doubt, hit 'F1' and be taken to the help section. Then search for 'hotkeys' or 'shortcuts'.