Ctrl

 

Short for control, Ctrl is a key found on IBM compatible computer keyboards in the bottom left and right portion of the main keyboard. In the picture to the right, is an example of what the Ctrl key may look like on your keyboard. This term is commonly used to refer to a keyboard shortcut key such as the three finger salute or CTRL + ALT + DEL. This combination indicates pressing and holding on the keyboard CTRL and ALT and DEL to reboot the computer or open the task manager window.
Many times documentation or information from Computer Hope and other computer related documentation may list commands such as ^X, ^C, ^Z, etc. this means CTRL-X, CTRL-C, CTRL-Z, etc. In other words, a user would want to press and hold the CONTROL or CTRL key and then press the letter following the caret.

Apple Macintosh users can usually substitute the Control key keyboard shortcuts with the option key.

Alt

Short for Alternate, Alt is a modifier key located on both sides of the spacebar key on IBM compatible computer keyboards. In the picture to the right, is an example of what this keyboard key may look like. This term may also be used to describe a key combination such as the below example.

Ctrl + Alt + Del

The above combination means press and hold on the keyboard CTRL, ALT, and DEL all at the same time to reboot the computer or open the task manager window.

Users more familiar with the Apple Macintosh computers can relate this key to the Option key.

Function keys

Keys that act as shortcuts for performing certain functions such as saving files or printing data. Function keys usually are lined along the top of the keyboard labeled F1 through F12. Below is an picture of the Saitek Gamers' keyboard, which gives an example of where the function keys are often located on the keyboard. In the past, earlier Apple Macintosh computers did not have function keys and some early IBM computers and keyboards had two rows of function keys, with the second row containing F13 - F24.

The function keys should not be confused with the Fn (function) key found on laptop computer               keyboards.

Key

1. When referring to a computer keyboard, a key is a single button on the keyboard. Letters, numbers, functions, and symbols are all represented on keys.
2. A key is also a tool used to lock and unlock a computer, computer drive or other computer related device. If you have lost the key to your computer device, Computer Hope cannot assist you with obtaining a new one. Contact the manufacturer of the product that is locked.
3. When referring to the computer Microsoft Windows registry, a registry key, or key for short, is a term used to identify an item in the registry, such as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
4. The term key or keyed may also be used to describe a cable with physical dimensions that causes a cable such as a ribbon cable to be connected only one direction. In some rare cases this may prevent a cable from being properly connected to a drive. For example, the manufacturer of a floppy disk drive may have keyed their connection differently than the cable manufacturer has. In this situation, the user may either be required to purchase a different brand of cable or floppy drive, or modify the key on the cable.
5. When referring to encryption a key is a set of instructions that is used to encrypt and decrypt data.

Keyboard

One of the main input devices used on a computer, a PC's keyboard looks very similar to the keyboards of electric typewriters, with some additional keys. Below is a graphic of the Saitek Gamers' keyboard with indicators pointing to each of the major portions of the keyboard.

Finally, today most users use the QWERTY style keyboards. Below is a graphic illustration of where each of the keys are on a U.S. QWERTY style keyboard.

Arrow keys

Alternatively referred to as cursor keys, arrow keys are keyboard keys located in-between the standard keyboard and the numeric pad on computer keyboards. These four keys are the left arrow (back arrow), up arrow, down arrow, and the right arrow (forward arrow). In the picture to the right, is a closer look at what the arrow keys may look like on your keyboard. Some keyboards such as the Microsoft natural keyboard may arrange these keys differently. Below are just a few of the different ways these keys can be used.

1. Move the text cursor on the screen.
2. Use in combination with other keys for shortcut keys. For example, pressing the Alt key and the left arrow key in Microsoft Internet Explorer will take you back one Internet page.
3. Move a character in a computer game.
4. Select text. For example, holding down shift and pressing the arrow key in the direction you want to highlight text.
5. Move the mouse pointer using the keyboard instead of the mouse.

• How to move the mouse cursor with the keyboard in Windows.

In the below picture, the Saitek Gamers' keyboard shows where the arrow keys can be found. In addition to the traditional arrow keys, as shown above, the numeric keypad can also function as arrow keys when Num Lock is turned off.

End key

 

A key found on keyboards usually below the home key that moves the cursor to the end of the line, paragraph, page, screen, cell, or document depending on the program and where your cursor is currently positioned.

An example of how the End key could be used is to move the cursor to the middle of a line of text and press the End key, which would move to the end of the line of text. Using a key combination such as pressing the Shift key and the End key together would highlight the text from the cursor to the end of the line.