Utility Programs

Lesson Objective:

Understanding the functions of an operating system.

Learning Outcome:

Answer some basic questions on operating systems.

Security: Spyware, Anti virus, Firewall Disk organisation: Format, File transfer, Defragmenting. System maintenance: System information and diagnosis, System cleanup, Automatic updating.

The OCR Specification says that you should be able to:

Describe the purpose and use of common utility programs for computer security (antivirus, spyware protection and firewalls), disk organisation (formatting, file transfer, and defragmentation), and system maintenance (system information and diagnosis, system cleanup tools, automatic updating)

What are utility programs?

Utility programs help the computer to function.

You don’t usually buy a computer to run them, but they are handy to have around.

Three types of utility programs

Security

FirewallPrevents weirdos from

accessing your PC when connected to the internet.

Anti VirusPrevents damaging

software from taking control of your PC

SpywarePrevents programs which capture information like bank account details etc.

Did you get that?

What is spyware?

Prevents programs which capture information like bank account details etc.

Did you get that?

What type of security software prevents people from accessing your computer through a network?

Firewall

Did you get that?

What is the most likely way to catch a computer virus?

Downloading from the internetEmail attachmentsVia an infected USB flash drive

Disk Organisation

New hard disk drives and USB flash drives need to be formatted before use.

Formatting prepares the disk for use. An old hard disk can be re-formatted to clear off the contents.

The software used to format a disk is called …

A disk formatter (doh!)

Disk Defragmenting

A computer hard disk can become cluttered (like this desk) after saving and changing files over some time.

Disk defragmenting

Disk defragmenter

The software used to format a disk is called …

File transfer / organiser

You are probably familiar with Windows Explorer. There are other programs which you can download to view and transfer files.

Did you get that?

What happens when a disk is formatted?

It is prepared for first use. If it already has data on it the disk is cleared.

Did you get that?

Why does a disk need to be defragmented?

The files are spread out over several locations on the disk. Disk defragging puts all of the files together so it can be accessed quickly.

Did you get that?

Name a familiar file transfer or file organisation program.

Windows explorer

System Maintenance

Sometimes computers become slow or stop working properly.

System information and diagnostic software helps to find out what is wrong and how to fix it.

Windows has its own system information software

System cleanup

After a PC has been used for a while the system files can become cluttered (e.g. the registry file in Windows)

System cleanup software specialises in increasing the speed and efficiency of these files.

Automatic updating software

Software updates to Windows may be familiar. For some programs like antivirus the updates are essential.