Utility Software, aka "utilities", are programs that either add functionality to your computer or help your computer perform better. In this post we will be going through some common examples.
Utilities to keep your data safe
The post in Chapter 23 talks about the threats to our data in our computers in detail. In here, we list some useful utility software that can help you to protect your data on your computer.
1. Antivirus Software
An antivirus program is a software utility designed to protect your computer or network against computer viruses. A computer virus is a program designed to cause damage: delete files; prevent access to files; send spam; spy on you; steal personal information; modify data; send an e-mail; display messages and so on.
When the virus is executed, it spreads by copying itself into or over data files, programs, or the boot sector of a computer's hard drive, or potentially anything else writable. Almost all computer viruses only damage the data contained on the computer and do not physically harm the computer or its hardware.
Antivirus monitors are able to detect and wipe out a computer virus by looking for virus signatures that act like fingerprints.
To explain, a virus signature is a unique pattern that is easily identifiable. Antivirus programs are background programs loaded on start-up.
2. Firewall
A firewall is a software utility that is designed to manage traffic coming into and going out of the system through the network adapter. The job of a firewall is to
reduce the chances of hacks through network intrusion. It will usually maintain a list of rules to Allow or Block programs or ports from accessing the network, both inwards and outwards. Most newer operating systems come with their own Firewall e.g., windows firewall, but third party firewalls can provide increased security and configuration options. Like an antivirus, it runs in the background and is loaded on start-up.
3. Encryption Utility
Encryption software is software that uses cryptography (the study to find the best ways to encryption codes) to prevent unauthorised access to digital information. Cryptography is used to protect digital information on computers as well as the digital information that is sent to other computers over the Internet. Two obvious examples where encryption is needed are passwords and credit card numbers.
Utilities that we use when the worst happens
1. Backup Software
Backup software helps a user regularly create data redundancy in an organised manner. This will make it possible for a user to recover a big portion of the data when it is lost. A list of common features hereunder.
User Friendly The process of backup does not have to be a complicated one.
Fast Backup should, preferably, not take much of the computer’s time.
Automation It saves and backs up work every few seconds. Better than this, a whole system can be built to save on two or more secondary storage devices in parallel.
Full System Restore Points For the operating system, programs, settings etc.
Ransomware Protection Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents you from using your computer or accessing certain files unless you pay a ransom.
Connected to IoT The ability to manage backups safely on the cloud.
While using backup software is highly recommended , it can however be heavy on resources i.e. utilises processor time and requires a lot of memory. Moreover, commercial software that falls under this category tends to be quite expensive.
2. Disk Repair Software
The aim of disk repair software is to fix corrupted hard drives and recover deleted files. This can be the last resort (absolute last resort) for hard drives which have experienced some form or damage or data corruption. If you are looking at this blog post because you need to use disk repair software all I can say is...
If you happen to have around sixty dollars to burn: http://www.dposoft.net/.
Utilities that we use to keep our system organized
1. Compression Utility
The aim of (file) compression is to make the data as small as possible. It is generally a good idea to compress files that need to be kept but are not utilised often. At times it is necessary to be able to transfer data over a network. In fact, OS in desktop computers generally include tools for compressing and uncompressing files. Third-party compression utilities like WinZip or WinRAR provide added functionality for the advanced computer user.
Similar to encryption, compression makes use of an algorithm to condense repeated or unnecessary data so that overall a file can take less space. Compression algorithms can be lossless or lossy. In the case of lossless compression, every single bit of data that was originally in the file remains after the file is uncompressed. Lossless compression can take the form of text files, spreadsheet files, etc. There are quite a few multi-media types that are lossless for example GIF is a compressed image format that is lossless. On the other hand, lossy compression reduces a file by permanently eliminating unimportant or redundant data. This means that when the file is eventually uncompressed, only a part of the original information remains (although the user may not even realise.) Lossy compression is a common strategy to compress multimedia files such as video, sound and images. For example, JPEG is a compressed image format that is lossy.
Type | Lossy | Lossless |
Formats | JPG, MP3, WMV, MPG | TIF, PDF, GIF, PNG, ZIP |
Examples |  |  |
Advantages | Smallest therefore least transmission time and good to transfer over a network. | Original quality is preserved. |
Disadvantages | Detail is permanently lost. | May not be particularly significant. |
Example uses | Music streaming, sending photos through chat, thumbnails | Text, eBooks, high resolution prints |
2. Defragmentation Tool
Memory fragmentation was covered in Chapter 30. File fragmentation is a negative effect of this phenomenon.
In summary, file fragmentation is a term that describes a group of files that are scattered throughout a hard drive platter instead of one continuous location. When data is repeatedly being written to or deleted from a hard drive, inevitably small gaps are left behind to be filled by new data. After a while the gaps left are too small, therefore, the remainder of what needs to be saved is stored in other available gaps. Fragmentation causes slow access time because read/write head accessing the data must find all fragments of a file before it can be opened or executed.
Defragmentation is a term used to describe the process of reorganising a hard drive's data to help increase the proficiency of accessing the data and prevent file fragmentation. By organising the data on the hard drive, it can decrease the time it takes to run a program and open files on a hard disk drive. An example of a defragmentation utility included with Microsoft Windows is Microsoft's Defrag.
3. File Manager
A file manager is a software program that helps a user manage all the files on their computer. For example, all file managers allow the user to view, edit, copy, and delete the files on their computer storage devices. With recent versions of Microsoft Windows, Windows Explorer (Explorer) is considered the default file manager. With Apple computers, Finder is considered the default file manager.
4. Disk Partition Tool
When referring to a computer hard drive, a disk partition or partition is a section of the hard drive that is separated from other segments. Partitions enable users to divide a physical disk into logical sections. For example, allowing multiple operating systems to run on the same device.
In practice, one of the motivations of using different partitions is to have the operating system and programs on one partition, allowing it enough disk space to operate well, while reserving another partition for user files. The advantage in this scenario is that if the Operating system is corrupted or needs to be re-installed, that partition can be formatted and re-installed without endangering user files, since these are on a separate partition.
Q. We just learnt that a virus (or malware) can cause different kinds of damage. Can you mention three?
Q. An antivirus can wipe out malware by detecting virus signatures. What is a virus signature?
Q. Name three features that can be found in a backup utility.
Q. We learnt that most operating systems come with compression utilities.
Can you name two reasons for compressing a file?
What is the difference between lossy and lossless compression?
Q. Most computers experience some level of disk fragmentation from extended use.
What is it that cause fragmentation?
What does a computer gain after defragmentation?
Q. What does a file manager utility do?
Q. Disk partitioning enables users to store two different operating systems on the same computer. What is disk partitioning?
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