Keyboard: An object of imminent use for the home office worker, the keyboard is the portion of a computer that contains the buttons for letters, numbers, special characters, and functions. It might be a separate piece of hardware, such as a keyboard used with a desktop, or it might be imbedded in one half of the computer, such as a keyboard for a laptop. The most common keyboard layout is the one known as QWERTY, named for the first six letters from the left in the top row of letters on the QWERTY keyboard. As well as its obvious use in word processing applications, a keyboard also contains function keys from F1 through F12, which relate to different tasks in different software and web applications. And, of course, if the dreaded computer crash occurs, those three little keys on the keyboard are necessary: CTRL + ALT + DEL.
Keys (product): Keys for products refer to codes given with particular software programs. These keys are usually somewhere on the product packaging or in the manual, and each code is unique. In most cases, the software program cannot be used at all or cannot be used with full functionality without a product key, which is entered during an online registration process to activate the software.
Keywords: Keywords are the most important terms within an article, blog post, manual, or informational website. Search engines such as Google track and rate individual web pages and entire websites by the keywords used, the number of keywords, and the relevancy of keywords to the rest of the content on the page or site. Websites build up traffic by providing content which contains relevant keywords in a way that makes sense, so that the reader understands what the key terms are but is not inundated with constant repetition of those terms.
Killswitch: A kill switch is an anti-piracy feature coded into some software. It functions by shutting down the operation of the software when the user attempts to run something that the software determines to be pirated, rather than legitimately purchased. Software kill switches are not popular, as they have been known to determine certain copies of data to be pirated when, in fact, the data was legitimately obtained. Thus most software vendors no longer include kill switches in their software or operating systems.
Kingsoft: Kingsoft is a China-based software company that has developed and produced programs such as Kingsoft Writer, Kingsoft Spreadsheets, and Kingsoft Presentations. Kingsoft software programs are generally more affordable than alternatives such as Microsoft Office, and provides the same basic functions as any office or word processing suite.
