Part 9 (aka Part 2 redux): ASCII can bite me

Why, to get any symbol like a bullet (•) or em dash in windows is there no easy key stroke like there is on a Mac? Am I expected to memorise a bunch of ASCII codes to type with the alt key held down?

my dad responds

Even then I can't get them to work predictably. There's a program called charmap in Windows whose help page is useless.

Part 2: ASCII WHY?

When I want to type a cents sign (¢) on a Mac, I type option-4 (option-#) and it pops right up. If I want to type a jolly pounds sign (£), it's option-3 (option-#). If I want a Paragraph marker (¶) it's option-7. Sure not all of the shortcuts make sense (option-E then __ for an accent) and some are kind of roundabout (the aforementioned accent, the option-U then __ for a diaseris) but they are all there. When all else fails I hold down the option key and the shift-option and scroll across the keyboard until I get what I want.

¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–œ∑´®†¥¨ˆøπåß∂ƒ©˙∆˚¬…Ω≈ç√∫⁄€‹›fifl‡°·‚—

Look at all that good stuff!

Now...in Windows, there is no option key. There is an alt key that seems to be pretty much useless. To get one of these symbols, you have to figure out (using google in my case) that you have to hold down the ALT key and type a three digit ascii code that has nothing to do with anything. At least in html you can type & and get an ampersand. Not in Windows. Nope.

I hate windows.

my dad responds

In Word there is a whole screen that you can get to insert a special
character, and it even gives you a hint of the keystroke combination.
Talk about shooting fleas with an elephant gun...