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K
KB
- Kilobyte
- 1000 bytes (SEE byte)
Kbps
Stands for "Kilobits Per Second." 1 Kbps is equal to 1,000 bits per second. That means a 300 Kbps connection can transfer 300,000 bits in one second. 1,000 Kbps is equal to 1 Mbps.
Kbps is primarily used to measure data transfer rates. For example, dial-up modems were rated by their maximum download speeds, such as 14.4, 28.8, and 56 Kbps. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Kbps remained the standard way to measure data transfer dates. However, broadband connections such as cable and DSL now offer speeds of several megabits per second. Therefore, Mbps is more ubiquitous than Kbps.
NOTE: The lowercase "b" in Kbps is significant. It stands for "bits," not bytes (which is represented by a capital "B"). Since there are eight bits in one byte, 400 Kbps is equal to 400 ÷ 8, or 50 KBps. Because data transfer speeds have traditionally been measured in bps, Kbps is more commonly used than KBps.
KDE
Stands for "K Desktop Environment." KDE is a contemporary desktop environment for Unix systems. It is a Free Software project developed by hundreds of software programmers across the world. Both the KDE source code and the software itself are made freely available to the public.
KDE's primary benefit is the modern graphical user interface GUI it provides for Unix workstations. While Unix systems are notoriously difficult for novice users to operate, KDE makes it possible for the average user to work on a Unix system. In addition to the modern interface, KDE also includes several user-friendly features, such as an application help system and standardized menus and toolbars. It also supports the ability to customize the interface with various skins or themes..
Another important aspect of the K Desktop Environment is its application development framework, which is what software engineers use to develop programs for KDE. Since a desktop environment is only as useful as the applications available for it, it is important that developing software for the environment is not a tedious process. Therefore, the KDE application development framework has been designed to help programmers develop robust applications in a simple and efficient manner. This has lead to the development of KOffice and hundreds of high-quality programs for KDE.
For more information about the K Desktop Environment, visit the KDE Homepage.
Kernel
A kernel is the foundational layer of an operating system (OS). It functions at a basic level, communicating with hardware and managing resources, such as RAM and the CPU.
Since a kernel handles many fundamental processes, it must be loaded at the beginning of the boot sequence when a computer starts up. The kernel performs a system check and recognizes components, such as the processor, GPU, and memory. It also checks for any connected peripherals. As the OS loads and the graphical user interface appears, the kernel keeps running. Even after the OS has fully loaded, the kernel continues to run in the background, managing system resources.
Types of Kernels
Several types of kernels exist, but two popular ones include monolithic kernels and microkernels. A monolithic kernel is a single codebase, or block of source code, that provides all the necessary services offered by the operating system. It is a simplistic design and creates a well-defined communication layer between the hardware and software.
Microkernels have the same function as monolithic kernels, but they are designed to be as small as possible. Instead of managing all the resources from a single codebase, the kernel handles only the most basic functions. It uses modules or "servers" to manage everything else. For example, device drivers are typically included in a monolithic kernel, but they would be split into separate modules in a microkernel. This design is more complex, but it can provide a more efficient use of system resources and helps protect against system crashes.
Kernel Panics
Since the kernel handles the most basic functions of a computer, if it crashes it can take down the entire computer. This undesirable event is called a "kernel panic" on macOS and Unix systems. It is similar to the blue screen of death in Windows. The only way to recover from a kernel panic is to restart your computer.
NOTE: Kernel panics are often caused by hardware communication issues. Therefore, if your computer is producing repeated kernel panics, try unplugging unnecessary devices to see if that fixes the problem.
Kerning
Kerning refers to the spacing between the characters of a font. Without kerning, each character takes up a block of space and the next character is printed after it. When kerning is applied to a font, the characters can vertically overlap. This does not mean that the characters actually touch, but instead it allows part of two characters to take up the same vertical space.
For example, when the characters A and V are placed next to each other, they can take up less total space if they overlap. This is because the right part of the A and the left part of the V fit together. If kerning is applied to the two characters, you could draw a vertical line straight down starting from the top left part of the V and it would go through the lower right part of the A.
Kerning is useful because it allows more text to be placed within a given amount of space. This allows longer articles to be placed in newspapers and magazines with limited space. It also looks more natural because when writing by hand, people often make characters overlap. Many text editing programs, as well as image editors such as Adobe Photoshop, allow the user to kern characters. These programs often include a kerning setting that enables the user to determine how tightly the characters fit together.
Keyboard (computer
A computer keyboard is an input device that allows a person to enter letters, numbers, and other symbols (these are called characters in a keyboard) into a computer. It is one of the most used input devices for computers. Using a keyboard to enter lots of data is called typing.
A keyboard contains many mechanical switches or push-buttons called "keys". When one of these are pushed, an electrical circuit is closed, and the keyboard sends a signal to the computer that tells it what letter, number or symbol it would like to be shown on the screen. The computer's CPU then shows the character on the screen, usually at the place where the cursor is. Besides entering characters, computer keyboards also have keys that change the symbol (such as shift or caps lock) or give the computer special commands (such as the arrow keys, CTRL and ALT). Different computer operating systems use different special keys, or use them differently. Special commands can also be activated through a combination of keys (such as Ctrl + V on Windows to paste copied content).
A keyboard can be joined to a computer using a wire, but can also be wireless (like those that use Bluetooth). Most 21st century keyboards that use wires connect to a USB port on the computer, but older ones use a less versatile DIN connector port.
Keyboard Shortcut
A keyboard shortcut is a key combination that performs a certain command, such as closing a window or saving a file. For example, pressing "Control-S" in a Windows program or "Command-S" on the Mac is the standard shortcut for saving an open document. You can also usually close a window on the Mac by pressing "Command-W" or by pressing "Alt-F4" in Windows. The shortcut for copying data is usually "Control-C" (Windows) or "Command-C" (Mac) and for pasting data, it is "Control-V" (Windows) or "Command-V" (Mac).
Most keyboard shortcuts are shortcuts for commands located in a program's menu bar. For example, most of the commands within the File and Edit menus have standard shortcuts. Each command that has a keyboard shortcut usually has the shortcut listed next to the command in the menu. For example, the Save option in a Windows program will usually have the text "Ctrl+S" next to it, indicating that pressing Control and S together will save the document.
While most keyboard shortcuts are located in a program's menu bar, there are many keyboard shortcuts that are sometimes not visible to the user. To view a list of keyboard shortcuts available for the Macintosh and Windows operating systems, view the pages below:
Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts|Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts
Key Logger
A keylogger is a program that records the keystrokes on a computer. It does this by monitoring a user's input and keeping a log of all keys that are pressed. The log may be saved to a file or even sent to another machine over a network or the Internet.
Keylogger programs are often deemed spyware because they usually run without the user knowing it. They can be maliciously installed by hackers to spy on what a user is typing. By examining the keylog data, it may be possible to find private information such as a username and password combination. Therefore, keyloggers can be a significant security risk if they are unknowingly installed on a computer.
The best way to protect yourself from keylogger programs is to install anti-virus or security software that warns you when any new programs are being installed. You should also make sure no unauthorized people have access to your computer. This is especially true in work environments. You can also periodically check the current processes running on your computer to make sure no keyloggers or other malware programs are active. While it is unlikely that you have a keylogger programs installed on your computer, it is definitely worth it to check.
Keystroke
A keystroke is typing one character on a keyboard (not stroking your keyboard like a cat). Every time you hit a key, you perform a keystroke. Therefore, 5400 keystrokes in one hour means hitting 5400 keys in one hour, or 90 keys a minute (5400 ÷ 60 minutes).
Sometimes keystrokes per hour (KSPH) or keystrokes per minute (KSPM) are used to measure typing speed instead of words per minute (WPM). After all, typing the word "hi" 50 times doesn't take quite as long as typing "Nebuchadnezzar" 50 times.
Keywords
Keywords are words or phrases that describe content. They can be used as metadata to describe images, text documents, database records, and Web pages. A user may "tag" pictures or text files with keywords that are relevant to their content. Later on, these files may be searched using keywords, which can make finding files much easier. For example, a photographer may use a program like Extensis Portfolio or Apple iPhoto to tag his nature photos with words such as "nature," "trees," "flowers," "landscape," etc. By tagging the photos, he can later locate all the pictures of flowers by simply searching for the "flowers" keyword.
Keywords are used on the Web in two different ways: 1) as search terms for search engines, and 2) words that identify the content of the website.
1) Search Engine Search Terms
Whenever you search for something using a search engine, you type keywords that tell the search engine what to search for. For example, if you are searching for used cars, you may enter "used cars" as your keywords. The search engine will then return Web pages with content relevant to your search terms. The more specific keywords you use, the more specific (and useful) the results will be. Therefore, if you are searching for a specific used car, you may enter something like "black Honda Accord used car" to get more accurate results.
Many search engines also support boolean operators that can be used along with keywords to further refine the search. For example, you may search for "Apple AND computers NOT fruit" if you only want results related to Apple products and not the kind of apples that grow on trees.
2) Web Page Description Terms
Keywords can also describe the content of a Web page using the keyword meta tag. This tag is placed in the section of a page's HTML and contains words that describe the content of the Web page. The purpose of the keywords meta tag is to help search engines identify and organize Web pages, like in the photos example above. However, because webmasters have been known to use inaccurate tags to get higher search engine ranking, many search engines now give little to no weight to the keywords meta tag when indexing pages.
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