Unit 2 Task 3 P3

Unit 2 Task 3 P3

Explain the Purpose of different software utilities

The purpose of having different software utilities on your computer is so that the computer can run as fast as possible and be used to its full potential. Security software utilities include firewalls and virus protection. Firewalls are used to monitor incoming and outgoing data on a computer system connected to a network. The firewall checks if the data is coming from a trusted source and if the source isn’t trusted the firewall blocks it. Firewalls are good because they prevent viruses and trojans getting installed onto your computer. Virus protection software is used to scan the computer system and stop computer worms, trojans and viruses. Viruses can corrupt your computer system and enable hacker to take over. The hacker could then steal your important documents and personal data; this is why you should install anti-virus software such as AVAST!. This will protect your computer from viruses and you should configure it to scan your computer system regularly. Updates should also be done regularly on your anti-virus software as hackers are finding new ways to get into your personal computer and new viruses are being made constantly.

Clean up tools are essential in order to improve a computer's performance. Clean up tools delete unwanted files and ensure your hard drive is organised. Most operating systems already have clean up tools built in such as ‘Windows Disk Cleanup’. This is used to remove cookies which have been downloaded when the computer user accesses certain websites such as ‘Kerboodle’. By removing cookies, the operating system can run faster as more space has been made. You can also delete your internet history which will free up disk space and improve the overall performance of your computer. Another clean up tool is the recycle bin. Again most computers have this built in. The recycle bin is used to permanently remove program files and delete items from your hard drive. To keep your computers performance at a high standard you should perform scheduled defragmentation on a regular basis. By defragmenting your hard drive after deleting all unnecessary and unwanted files, it will arrange files on your hard drive so that they are easier to access.

Drive formatting;

Drive formatting is used to get rid of all data on the hard drive. There are different levels of formatting as sometimes the data can be retrieved again. However this is only used for sensitive information and a military level formatting is used to ensure that the data can be obtained. Disk formatting tools can also be used to part drives into different areas so that they can be formatted into different file formats such as NTFS.