Application Software

Application software is a set of programs to carry out a specific task like word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tools, library management software, railway reservation, antivirus software, etc. Generally an application software can perform only one specific job and cannot be used for something else. For instance, a library management software cannot be used for railway reservation system or a word processing software is generally not used as a spreadsheet.

Application Software can be divided into different categories depending upon their uses

as follows:

v Utility Software

v General Purpose Application Software

v Specific Purpose Application Software

v Developer Tools

Utility Software

After all the basic and necessary software like Operating System and Device Drivers have been installed, we also require some additional software to keep our computer system efficient and trouble free. Generally these software come bundled with the Operating System Software but we can also use utility software provided by other vendors. Few examples of utility software are as follows:

v Compression utility software: Using this software, you can reduce (compress) the storage size of any computer program/file while not in use. This utility comes in handy when you want to transfer a big program or computer file from one computer to another either through internet or using storage devices like Pen Drive, CD or DVD.	Figure 3.7 Utility Software
v Backup utility software:Though computer is in general a dependable device but it is always advisable to take regular back up of important data and programs stored in the computer. In case of any damage to the system, the back-up files can be restored and the important data can be recovered from the back-up files. This utility software facilitates you to take regular back-up of important files and folders stored in a drive into another storage device like a Pen drive or CD or a DVD or another computer. This backup data can be restored in case of any unforeseen situation.
v Disk De-fragmentation Utility software:When computer system finds a file too large to store in a single location, it splits the file and stores it in pieces (called fragments), which are logically linked. This simply means that different parts of the file are scattered across the hard drive in noncontiguous locations. This type of fragmented file requires some extra time to access and slows down the system. Disk de-fragmentation utility software speeds up the system by rearranging such fragmented files stored on a disk in contiguous locations in order to optimize the system performance. For example if you have three defragmented files named 1(stored in 6 fragments),2(stored in 4 fragments) and 3(stored in 5 fragments) as shown in Figure 3.8, then running the defragmentation utility will reorganize the file contents in consecutive locations as shown in Figure 3.8
Example of Fragmented Drive	Example of Defragmented Drive
Figure 3.8A Sample Visualization of Disk Defragmentation
! You should regularly defragment your hard drive so as to increase the speed of accessing files thereby improving the system performance.
v Antivirus detection and protection software:A computer virus is a computer program intended to hamper the performance of a computer system. These virus are copied into the system through some other infected programs (copied into the system) or downloaded from the internet. This utility software provides the user with a virus free work environment by restricting the entry of any unwanted program into the system.   v Text Editor: This utility software helps one to create, store or edit a basic text file. A text file generally stores English type text and can also store numeric and special characters with little formatting. Popular examples of text editors are Notepad, Notepad2, Notepad++, Gedit and KWrite.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 641