Keys Off was designed with one premise in mind: to protect your Macintosh from any unwanted modifications. Credit for the original concept is due to my son – he could reach my keyboard no matter where I put it. It didn’t take many days of finding my system folder in the trash, and many of my documents renamed something like “nnnnlkmln” before I decided that I needed a simple but effective safety tool. Enter Keys Off.
The Keys Off control panel provides a simple way to quickly disable your Mac’s keyboard. With a single keystroke your keyboard is deactivated. Type in the password and your keyboard springs back to life. It’s that simple. In addition, Keys Off can disable your mouse, and even your keyboard’s power key.
Although it was originally designed to protect your Macintosh from young users, Keys Off is a perfect solution in many situations: salespeople who want to prevent tampering with their demonstration Macs, Mac owners with pets that like walking on their keyboard, teachers who need a Macintosh turned on without students being able to modify it, and many others.
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Design Principles
Keys Off was designed to be small, to be simple to use, and to produce no conflicts with existing software. To help achieve this, Keys Off patches no traps (for the curious, it does install a jGNE filter however). This means it should operate properly with almost any other control panel or extension you have in your system folder. Unfortunately, although Keys Off has been thoroughly tested, it is impossible to verify every software configuration in use.
If you encounter a software incompatability that you believe involves Keys Off, please let me know exactly what’s in your system folder and what you were doing when the problem arose. I'll do my best to respond quickly.
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Shareware
Keys Off is distributed as shareware. This allows you to try Keys Off for fourteen days before deciding if you want to purchase it. If after the fourteen days, you decide to continue using Keys Off, you must register your copy. A single-user license is only $10 and is payable through Kagi Shareware. See the document titled “How to register Keys Off” for more information on registering Keys Off.
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Installation
Simply drag the Keys Off control panel to your system folder and restart.
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Configuration
Keys Off is as easy to configure as it is to use. The Keys Off control panel has full balloon help and is fairly self-explanatory. However, here’s a brief explanation of each setting:
1) Keys Off Hot Key
This box displays the Hot Key that you use to activate Keys Off.
2) Set Hot Key
To change the Hot Key used to activate Keys Off, press this button. A dialog box will be displayed, requesting the new keyboard combination. Press the Hot Key you desire, and then click the OK or Cancel button to continue. When picking a keyboard combination, make sure you choose something that isn’t already in use by some other program or utility.
3) Keys On password
Type into this box the password you want to use to turn the keyboard back on. Whenever the keyboard is disabled, typing this password will turn it back on. Try to choose a password that is unlikely to be typed by accident by someone playing at your keyboard.
NOTE: if you disable both the keyboard and the mouse, and then you forget this password, you will have to restart your Macintosh in order to turn your mouse and keyboard on again.
4) Keys Off disables mouse
When this box is checked the mouse will be disabled along with the keyboard. With this option enabled, your Mac is immune to most types of unwanted modification (someone could still restart your Mac, however, turning the keyboard back on again).
5) Play Keys Off sounds
When this box is checked and the keyboard is disabled, Keys Off will beep every fourth keystroke and every second mouse click (if the mouse is disabled). This serves two purposes. First, it reminds you when the keyboard and mouse have been disabled. Second, it alerts you when someone starts playing with the Macintosh – and possibly provides entertainment to your child if you choose to let them sit at your Mac and bang away.
6) Disable power key
When this box is checked Keys Off will disable the power key on your keyboard. If this box is not checked the power key will continue to function even when the keyboard is disabled.
NOTE: disabling the power key requires System 7.5.3 or later. If you aren’t running system 7.5.3 or later, and you still want to disable your power key, the extension “NoPowerOffKey” is available from Apple. Although “NoPowerOffKey” can disable the power key on any version of system 7, it does so by patching the system – something I chose to avoid when creating Keys Off.
7) …but only when Keys Off
When this box is checked the power key is only disabled when they keyboard itself is disabled. If this box is not checked the power key will be disabled all the time.
Please Note: when you close the control panel all settings are immediately updated, i.e., you don’t have to restart the computer for changes to take effect.
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A Note About Hot Keys
Keys Off allows you to choose the Hot Key used to disable your keyboard. Although Hot Key selection is quite flexible there are certain restrictions you should be aware of:
1) A Hot Key cannot consist of any number from 1 through 9 plus the [Shift] and [Command] keys. These combinations are reserved by the Macintosh for use as F-Keys. For example, [Shift]+[Command]+3 takes a picture of your screen.
2) Some programs don’t detect Hot Keys properly. In these situtations, you can run into problems with Hot Keys that "overlap". For example, Macintosh Easy Access uses [Shift]+[Command]+[Clear] to activate itself. Unfortunately, if you were to try using [Shift]+[Command]+[Option]+[Clear] as a Keys Off Hot Key, it is detected by Macintosh Easy Access first, and ends up activating Easy Access and not Keys Off. If this happens it is a bug in the conflicting program, not in Keys Off, and all you can do is pick a different Hot Key.
3) The default Hot Key for Keys Off is [Option]+[Command]+[K].
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Known Limitations
There are certain situations in which Keys Off cannot prevent user input. The two I am aware of are:
1) when a desk accessory is the frontmost window, Keys Off cannot prevent mouse clicks and keystrokes from reaching it. However, desk accessories are becoming more rare all the time, so this will probably affect very few people.
2) even when Keys Off has disabled the mouse, a fast double-click in a background application’s window will bring that application to the front. However, Keys Off still prevents any keystrokes or mouse clicks from reaching the application. As a result, this limitation is a nuisance rather than a security problem.
There is a way to prevent both of these limitations, but it involves patching traps. I want to avoid this because it can create compatability problems with other extensions. If either of these limitations is a serious concern for you, please let me know, and I’ll see what can be done.
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Contacting Blue Globe Software
If you have any questions, bug reports, or feature requests for Keys Off, please contact me at any of the following addresses (in order of preference):
INTERNET: cliffmcc@BlueGlobe.com
INTERNET: cliffmcc@kagi.com
COMPUSERVE: 76170,601
The latest version of Keys Off, along with information about Blue Globe Software’s other products, is always available on our web page at:
<http://www.blueglobe.com/~cliffmcc>
If you want to contact Blue Globe Software by regular mail, our address is:
Blue Globe Software
PO Box 8171
Victoria, BC
V8W 3R8 Canada
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Distributing Keys Off
Keys Off may be distributed under the following conditions:
1) All accompanying documents, including this Read Me document, the “How to register Keys Off” document, and the “Register” application, are ALWAYS distributed together with the Keys Off control panel.
2) It is distributed free of charge, except for media costs where necessary.
3) It may not be distributed with other programs or products that are sold for profit, excluding books or CD-ROM collections (see point 5), without the consent of Blue Globe Software.
4) Neither Keys Off, nor any accompanying document or program files, may be altered, reverse engineered, decomplied, or modified in any way.
5) If you wish to include Keys Off in any commercial shareware compilations (such as CD-ROMs or Books) you must inform Blue Globe Software of your intention, and either send a free copy of the item to Blue Globe Software, or provide Blue Globe Software with the opportunity to purchase the item at a discounted price.
Other than these few restrictions, feel free to give Keys Off to whomever (or whatever) you choose.
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Thanks For The Help
I would like to thank the following people for testing, debugging, and suggesting improvements during Keys Off’s development: Deanna McCollum, Zachary McCollum, Tom Masters, Hendrik Zimmerman, Patrick Mead-Robins, Ron Nye, and Ivan Good.
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Legal Stuff
“KEYSOFF” COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. BY USING “KEYSOFF” YOU ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL DAMAGES INCURRED THROUGH ITS USE OR MISUSE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF DATA, TIME, INCOME, OR PROFITS. BY USING KEYSOFF YOU AGREE TO NOT HOLD BLUEGLOBE SOFTWARE, OR ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES, OWNERS, OR DISTRIBUTERS, RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF “KEYS OFF”.
Although we have thoroughly tested Keys Off, and don’t feel it poses any threat to your computing experience, we’re sure you can appreciate the unfortunate need for statements like the one above.
