selecting text using shift + numpad keys on Ubuntu

Have you ever wondered why Home/End keys on your keypad all of a sudden work really strange if you hold Shift?

(Hint: if you press Shift+NumPad Home instead of selecting text you will type ‘1’)

There are numerous solutions available on the Net, and most of them do not work with Ubuntu LTS 14.04.

Running

XKB_OPTIONS=$(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options | \
    perl -pe "s/\[/\['numpad:microsoft', / unless (/'numpad:microsoft'/); s/,\s*]/\]/") \
    && gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options "$XKB_OPTIONS"; \
    unset XKB_OPTIONS

will fix this once and for all. Changes will be in effect immediately.