1.5.2 Utility software

What is utility software?

• dedicated programs used for the maintenance and organisation of a computer system.

• these include: encryption software, data compression, defragmentation software, disk clean up tools, disk formatters and antivirus tools

Why is utility software needed?

• utilty programs perform extra functionality tasks that keep computers running efficiently

What is fragmentation and how does it happen?

• data is stored and then later deleted from the hard drive. new files are created which may be bigger than the spaces left by the deleted files so the new files are split up and saved in different storage locations on hard drive

• over time, as this process repeats, this leaves limited contiguous space in which to store a file

• increases access time - files take longer to load and read because of the distance between the fragments of the file which the drive head needs to move between

How does defragmentation work?

• empty spaces are collected together on the hard disk drive and file fragments are moved to be stored together.

• takes less time to read and access because the data is now stored contiguously. The read/write head of the hard drive does not need to move as far to read the next piece of data because it is in the adjacent memory location

• It also quicker to save new files because there is more free space together so it does not need to split the file

Why is data compression software needed?

• reduces the amount of storage space needed for a file on a disk

• when sending files, it reduces the amount of data that needs to be be sent - quicker transmission- allows some email attachments to be sent that might otherwise be too large

• more data can be stored on back up media

Why is encryption software needed?

• commonly used to encrypt entire hard disks so that data cannot be understood if the computer is stolen

• removable storage can also be encrypted for this reason