How do you enter the current date in an Excel Spreadsheet?

One question I often get from Microsoft Excel users is if there is way to enter the current date into a cell and have it keep that date without changing if you open the same spreadsheet a few days from now. If you use the NOW function it will always display the current date.

The easiest way to enter the current date into a cell is to use the Ctrl-; key combination (press the Ctrl key and type a semicolon). Similarly, you can enter the current time by pressing Ctrl-Shift-; (press the Ctrl and Shift keys and type a semicolon). Both of these key combinations enter the information as a volatile value, not as a formula.