The alt-579 works on Windows. It doesn't work in the forum editor; I'm not sure why. It works in other editors, Word, wordpad, notepad, and even the browser URL.
I guess it depends on what Windows version you are using.
I'm using Win 7. Here it doesn't work in Notepad, but it's working in Wordpad and the Chrome address bar.
But only if the font has the symbol in it. In Verdana for example it's missing.