Originally designed to trigger a reboot of a PC, it survives in the Windows 8 operating system as the command to access the task manager toolbar and is still used in older versions to log on.
In an interview, the Microsoft co-founder blamed IBM for the shortcut, saying he had favoured a single button.
The keyboard shortcut was invented by IBM engineer David Bradley.
Originally he had favoured Ctrl+Alt+Esc, but he found it was too easy to bump the left side of the keyboard and reboot the computer accidentally so switched to Ctrl+Alt+Del because it was impossible to press with just one hand.
During IBM's 20th anniversary celebrations, he said that while he may have invented it, Bill Gates made it famous.
His involvement in the invention has made him something of a programming hero though- with fans asking him to autograph keyboards at conferences.(BBC)
