Using dosbox? See the mapper (readme explains a bit about it).

This is awful but I'm not sure I really understand how it works 🙁 I'm the type of person that can barely use a computer, really... I'm looking at this http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php? … age=SpecialKeys now... ? I'm really sorry about this, but any help you can give me I really would appreciate so much. I've been longing to play this game for about 15 years now...

See the readme about the startmapper, and further read in the
readme how the mapper works.
Then you can exchange the f1 key with any key you like (which is still free).

Thank you so much. I have just one more question, and I apologise if it's really dumb... for the same reason as not being able to use F1, I can't use CTRL-F5, so do I just type -startmapper into the box... ? What do I type to get to the mapper...?

oops, i mean ctrl-f1...

omg! nevermind.. i realised the keys work if i switch to full screen mode. thank you!! xx

You'd append the -startmapper to the command line, that is if you start
dosbox with "./dosbox" you can use "./dosbox -startmapper"

Sorry to revive a relative oldie guys, but if you go to the Mac OS X system prefs, and keyboard and mouse, you can check a box to use f1 - f12 as regular function keys, therefore disabling them in the GUI. Very useful for games that use these keys! Regards