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Definition: help


On-screen instruction regarding the use of a program. There is typically a Help menu in today's operating systems and applications. On Windows PCs, pressing F1 is the de facto standard for getting help. On the Mac, Help is an option in the Finder menu.

Woefully Lacking: Version Number
There are countless articles and videos on the Web for help with operating systems and applications. If users are lucky, the version number of the software the help applies to is given at the very beginning so that people do not waste time following a set of steps only to find that halfway through, the next suggested step is nowhere to be found. Menus and icons are constantly changing in the next update of software, and the previous help may be useless. How often is the first line of the help the version number of the software the help refers to? Hardly ever! See user interface, RTFM, context sensitive help and online help.

AI to the Rescue; Not Really!
When chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok were asked why the software version number is hardly ever the first line of help, some answers were:
  help is written for humans

  for practical reasons

  version number is only for technical users