three fingered salute 

to press press CTRL ALT and DELETE on your PC thus resetting it .. derived from the 3 fingers you use to press the buttons.

John:"Damn my computer has froze!!"
Dave:"Give it a three fingered salute!"
John:"But ill lose all my work..."

three fingered salute by Evil-Ernie June 2, 2003

three fingered salute 

The art of closing down Microsoft Windows programmes that are pissing you off. by pressing Ctrl,Alt & Del. Repeat the experience to restart the computer.

The game was misbehaving so I gave it the three fingered salute.

three fingered salute by StarFox September 4, 2003

three fingered salute 

three fingered salute is another name for CTRL+ALT+DELETE.

CTRL+ALT+DELETE does...

Windows 3.11 = blue screen prompt to restart.
Windows 9x = Applications-only version of Task Manager.
Windows 2000 = Lock PC screen
Windows XP Home = Task Manager.
Windows XP Pro = Lock PC screen
Windows Vista and 7 = Menu to log off, switch user, lock computer, turn off and Task Manager

Sam: Why this computer with Windows 7 will not unfreeze?
Robert: Try the three fingered salute.

three fingered salute by Rob215 June 23, 2010

three fingered salute 

that just starts task manager

three fingered salute by Anonymous August 2, 2003

Three fingered salute 

the act of pressing Ctrl Alt Delete with 1 hand

i gave my compute the Three fingered salute when it froze

Three fingered salute by Mr.Freeman December 11, 2009