Software Utilities
There a four main groups of software utilities;
· Clean up
· Security
· Formatting
· 3rd party
The Purpose of clean up software utilities are to clean up the Hard drives of them computer and improve their performance, for example disk defragment, this searches through the different data clumps of the HDD for files that have been fragmented, then moving them all to the same clump improving performance in the HDD, another clean up utility is Ccleaner, this deletes files that are unnecessary for the running of the PC for example cookies form websites and other applications that leave files behind, this process makes the HDD more efficient, this makes the HDD more efficient because when the program removes all of the files that aren’t necessary it makes there less files the HDD needs to scan through to find a certain file. Auslogics Disk Defrag is a program that defragments a hard drive by using this software with your pc it will increase performance of the pc because the program will be keeping the hard drive free of fragmented files, the user can set when they want for the disks to be defragmented and if they want certain folders to be defragmented, the program also allows you to consolidate free space so that it is in one big block so that new files can be written without fragmentation, this will improve the performance of your pc because it will keep the files from fragmenting over the HDD.
The security software utility is used for keeping the computer safe from malware and any other malicious software that could harm the PC or jeopardise the security of the users files, passwords and personal details, for example Kaspersky anti-virus this program is made to scan the computer for any potential threats to the computer, once found it notifies the user and contains them until the user says otherwise for example they could say remove it, then the Kaspersky would remove said threat. If you didn’t have an antivirus program and you got a virus then the virus could slow your computer down because it will be running in the background using the computers resources for example processing power and the HDD, it would affect these because if the virus is one that is searching for personal information it will search the HDD for any details saved.so by having an antivirus software you will be improving you pcs performance by not getting any viruses to slow the computer down. Another example of a security utility is windows firewall, this blocks any unknown network traffic until the user says otherwise, normally when a program asks to go through the fire wall the user is notified by a pop up on the screen, this stops any threats to the computer because if someone was trying to get into someone’s computer via the internet the firewall will block them protecting users personal data. A firewall would speed the computer up because its much like the antivirus it blocks anyone trying to access the computer, which they then might be implanting a virus and so on, so it improves performance by stopping people from tampering with your computer from a remote location. Using a program like Norton will improve system performance because it will keep your computer safe from viruses which will use computer resources in the background, slowing the computer down, Norton will get rid of these viruses making your pc faster.
The formatting software utility allows the user to completely remove all data on a storage device for example a hard drive or USB Flash drive. An example of a formatting utilities is windows own formatting utility, this allows the user to remove the files on the storage device. This utility is a basic one with not many options. However you can find other formatting utilities on the internet an example of this is the Kingston formatting utility which essentially does the same the windows utility but has more options, this improve the performance of the computer because it will remove any files on the drive and when you reinstall windows it will only have the files that you need for the computer to run. If you sue windows own formatting tool you can format your HDD to the new NTFS file organisation system meaning it will improve the speed for your HDD to find the file you want, also when you re install windows on the HDD it will only have windows essential files on it speeding up your computer.
3rd party Utilities is software that any company makes to aid the computer; these can either be free or sold as a different program away from the original program. Examples of this are;
Anti-virus- an antivirus program detects any threats to the computer and either detains them or deletes them. An example of this is Norton antivirus or MacAfee.
Backup software- back up software copies all of the files and keeps them safe in case of a disk failure or if someone accidently deletes a file.
Clipboard managers- this adds extra functionality to the clip board manager that is in the OS.
Data compression- data compression utilities make data or a stream of data that is inputted smaller.
Disk checkers – a disk checker checks any Hard drives that a are connected to the computer to check if there are any errors.
Disk cleaners – disk cleaners remove any files that aren’t necessary for the running of the computer e.g. cookies or files that program leave behind.
Disk compression- disk compression utilities compress the data on the disk to make more room on the disk.
Disk defragmenters- disk defragment utilities, retrieve parts of files that have been fragmented over different data clumps in the hard drive and brings them back together to improve efficiency of the hard drive.
Disk partitions- disk partition tool allow the user to make several logical drives on a physical e.g. the user has the 512GB Music drive and a 512GB Games drive on one 1TB hard drive. These drives will show as individual drive on the computer but will still be only one physical drive.
Disk space analysers- disk space analysers give a visual representation on folders and files in the folders and how much space they take up on the hard drive.
Hex editors- hex editors can directly edit files these may be program files or and actual program. An example of this would be Neo a free online hex editor
Memory testers- memory testers, test the RAM to see if there are any errors or failures in the memory.
Screensavers- screen savers stop the monitor getting burns on the screens e.g. a plasma screen could have the google logo burnt into it if it left on the google homepage for a while.
System monitors- system monitors, monitor the computers resources e.g. how much RAM a computer has, and the computers performance for example if the computer is playing a game that is resources intensive it means that it uses a lot of ram and processing power.
If you use PKZIP which is a data compression tool it will make your computer more efficient because it compresses all of your data up to 98% and puts a passphrase based encryption on it so that the data is secure either while transferring or storing, this will decrease the transfer time of any files that you either want to send to another computer over the internet or if you want to transfer files to a different place on your computer, it will take less time because the file isn’t that big when compressed.
· Clean up
· Security
· Formatting
· 3rd party
The Purpose of clean up software utilities are to clean up the Hard drives of them computer and improve their performance, for example disk defragment, this searches through the different data clumps of the HDD for files that have been fragmented, then moving them all to the same clump improving performance in the HDD, another clean up utility is Ccleaner, this deletes files that are unnecessary for the running of the PC for example cookies form websites and other applications that leave files behind, this process makes the HDD more efficient, this makes the HDD more efficient because when the program removes all of the files that aren’t necessary it makes there less files the HDD needs to scan through to find a certain file. Auslogics Disk Defrag is a program that defragments a hard drive by using this software with your pc it will increase performance of the pc because the program will be keeping the hard drive free of fragmented files, the user can set when they want for the disks to be defragmented and if they want certain folders to be defragmented, the program also allows you to consolidate free space so that it is in one big block so that new files can be written without fragmentation, this will improve the performance of your pc because it will keep the files from fragmenting over the HDD.
The security software utility is used for keeping the computer safe from malware and any other malicious software that could harm the PC or jeopardise the security of the users files, passwords and personal details, for example Kaspersky anti-virus this program is made to scan the computer for any potential threats to the computer, once found it notifies the user and contains them until the user says otherwise for example they could say remove it, then the Kaspersky would remove said threat. If you didn’t have an antivirus program and you got a virus then the virus could slow your computer down because it will be running in the background using the computers resources for example processing power and the HDD, it would affect these because if the virus is one that is searching for personal information it will search the HDD for any details saved.so by having an antivirus software you will be improving you pcs performance by not getting any viruses to slow the computer down. Another example of a security utility is windows firewall, this blocks any unknown network traffic until the user says otherwise, normally when a program asks to go through the fire wall the user is notified by a pop up on the screen, this stops any threats to the computer because if someone was trying to get into someone’s computer via the internet the firewall will block them protecting users personal data. A firewall would speed the computer up because its much like the antivirus it blocks anyone trying to access the computer, which they then might be implanting a virus and so on, so it improves performance by stopping people from tampering with your computer from a remote location. Using a program like Norton will improve system performance because it will keep your computer safe from viruses which will use computer resources in the background, slowing the computer down, Norton will get rid of these viruses making your pc faster.
The formatting software utility allows the user to completely remove all data on a storage device for example a hard drive or USB Flash drive. An example of a formatting utilities is windows own formatting utility, this allows the user to remove the files on the storage device. This utility is a basic one with not many options. However you can find other formatting utilities on the internet an example of this is the Kingston formatting utility which essentially does the same the windows utility but has more options, this improve the performance of the computer because it will remove any files on the drive and when you reinstall windows it will only have the files that you need for the computer to run. If you sue windows own formatting tool you can format your HDD to the new NTFS file organisation system meaning it will improve the speed for your HDD to find the file you want, also when you re install windows on the HDD it will only have windows essential files on it speeding up your computer.
3rd party Utilities is software that any company makes to aid the computer; these can either be free or sold as a different program away from the original program. Examples of this are;
Anti-virus- an antivirus program detects any threats to the computer and either detains them or deletes them. An example of this is Norton antivirus or MacAfee.
Backup software- back up software copies all of the files and keeps them safe in case of a disk failure or if someone accidently deletes a file.
Clipboard managers- this adds extra functionality to the clip board manager that is in the OS.
Data compression- data compression utilities make data or a stream of data that is inputted smaller.
Disk checkers – a disk checker checks any Hard drives that a are connected to the computer to check if there are any errors.
Disk cleaners – disk cleaners remove any files that aren’t necessary for the running of the computer e.g. cookies or files that program leave behind.
Disk compression- disk compression utilities compress the data on the disk to make more room on the disk.
Disk defragmenters- disk defragment utilities, retrieve parts of files that have been fragmented over different data clumps in the hard drive and brings them back together to improve efficiency of the hard drive.
Disk partitions- disk partition tool allow the user to make several logical drives on a physical e.g. the user has the 512GB Music drive and a 512GB Games drive on one 1TB hard drive. These drives will show as individual drive on the computer but will still be only one physical drive.
Disk space analysers- disk space analysers give a visual representation on folders and files in the folders and how much space they take up on the hard drive.
Hex editors- hex editors can directly edit files these may be program files or and actual program. An example of this would be Neo a free online hex editor
Memory testers- memory testers, test the RAM to see if there are any errors or failures in the memory.
Screensavers- screen savers stop the monitor getting burns on the screens e.g. a plasma screen could have the google logo burnt into it if it left on the google homepage for a while.
System monitors- system monitors, monitor the computers resources e.g. how much RAM a computer has, and the computers performance for example if the computer is playing a game that is resources intensive it means that it uses a lot of ram and processing power.
If you use PKZIP which is a data compression tool it will make your computer more efficient because it compresses all of your data up to 98% and puts a passphrase based encryption on it so that the data is secure either while transferring or storing, this will decrease the transfer time of any files that you either want to send to another computer over the internet or if you want to transfer files to a different place on your computer, it will take less time because the file isn’t that big when compressed.