System Software: Utilities

A utility program performs tasks related to the maintaining of your computer's health - hardware and data. Some are included with the operating system. But someone always thinks they have a better version for you to buy. And they are frequently right!

File Management programs make it easier to manage your files and folders. Windows currently includes many features that were first used in add-on file management programs.

In the high days of DOS it didn't take much to improve on the text-only type-it-all-yourself methods that DOS provided. Many programs were written to help the user find files, create and organize directories, copy, move, and rename files. Some even used the mouse to point and click to accomplish these tasks. You don't appreciate the vastness of the improvement until you've tried to do these things by typing the commands. The newer graphical interfaces that come with current operating systems have reduced the need for alternate file management programs.

Disk Management programs involve formatting, partitioning, and defragmenting disks.

Defragmenting means putting files on the disk so that the whole file is in sequence. This reduces the time to access the file. Some disk management programs even let you specify that certain files that are accessed often, like the operating system itself and frequently used programs, are at the front of the disk. Anything that speeds things up will have customers.

Memory Management software handles where programs put their current data in RAM. They move certain items around or even out of RAM memory onto the hard disk. This can effectively increase the memory available by getting all the unused pieces together in one spot, making a useable amount.

A backup program, which also restores the backed up data, is a must if you have any data at all that you want to keep around for a while. The software may compress the data to take up the least space (Recall the problem with slack space we found in the discussion of Storage: Disk Format).

Your backup files can be on a hard disk, flash disk, CD or DVD disc, or stored in the "cloud" (a remote server that you access over the Internet). Some online services will automatically synchronize files and even allow access to the online copy from a different computer.

Tip: For important, hard-to-replace data, keep multiple copies on different kinds of media. Be sure that your backup is not stored in the same physical location as the computer! A fire or theft could get both.

Data Recovery programs are for those who just said "Whoops!" They attempt to recover deleted or damaged (corrupted) files. Use immediately or forget about it!

Data Compression programs squeeze out the slack space generated by the formatting schemes, as discussed under Storage: Disk Format.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1376