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Information about Software Utility

Utility software (also known as service program, service routine, tool, or utility routine) is a type of computer software. It is specifically designed to help manage and tune the computer hardware, operating system or application software, and perform a single task or a small range of tasks; as opposed to application software which tend to be software suites. Utility software has long been integrated into most major operating systems.

Examples

  • Disk defragmenters. Examples include a Disk defragmenter which can detect computer files whose contents have been stored on the hard disk in disjointed fragments, and move the fragments together to increase efficiency; a Disk checker can scan the contents of a hard disk to find files or areas that are corrupted in some way, or were not correctly saved, and eliminate them for a more efficiently operating hard drive; a Disk cleaner can find files that unnecessary to computer operation, or take up considerable amounts of space. Disk cleaner helps the user to decide what to delete when his hard disk is full.
  • System Profilers. A System profiler can provide detailed information about the software installed and hardware attached to the computer. Backup software can make a copy of all information stored on a computer, and restore either the entire system (e.g. in an event of disk failure) or selected files (e.g. in an event of accidental deletion). Disk compression software can transparently compress the contents of the hard disk, in order to fit more information to the drive.
  • Virus scanners. Virus Scanners scan for computer viruses among files and folders.
  • Binary/Hex/Text Editor utility directly modify the text or data of a file without the WYSIWYG view in editor suites. These files could be data or an actual program.
  • Archive utilities output a stream or a single file when provided with a directory or a set of files. Archive utilities, unlike archive suites, usually do not include compression or encryption capabilities. Some archive utilities may even have a separate un-archive utility for the reverse operation.
  • Compression utilities output a shorter stream or a smaller file when provided with a stream or file.
  • Encryption utilities use a specific algorithm to produce an encrypted stream or encrypted file when provided with a key and a plaintext.
  • Application launchers—see Comparison of applications launchers.
Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system. [1]
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Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes within the hardware. The hardware of a computer is infrequently changed, in comparison with software and data, which are "soft" in the
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An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. An operating system processes system data and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and internal system resources as a service to users and programs of the
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Application software is a subclass of computer software that employs the capabilities of a computer directly and thoroughly to a task that the user wishes to perform. This should be contrasted with system software which is involved in integrating a computer's various capabilities,
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A software suite or application suite is a collection of computer programs, usually application software and programming software of related functionality, often sharing a more-or-less common user interface and some ability to smoothly exchange data with each other.
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defragmentation is a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation in file systems. It does this by physically reorganizing the contents of the disk to store the pieces of each file close together and contiguously.
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computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage.
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Hard disk drive

An IBM hard disk drive with the metal cover removed. The platters are highly reflective.
Date Invented: September 13 1956
Invented By: An IBM team led by Reynold Johnson
Connects to:
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Disk checker can scan the contents of a hard disk to find files or areas that are corrupted in some way, or were not correctly saved, and eliminate them for a more efficiently operating hard drive; a Disk cleaner can find files that unnecessary to computer operation, or take up
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Hard disk drive

An IBM hard disk drive with the metal cover removed. The platters are highly reflective.
Date Invented: September 13 1956
Invented By: An IBM team led by Reynold Johnson
Connects to:
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Disk checker can scan the contents of a hard disk to find files or areas that are corrupted in some way, or were not correctly saved, and eliminate them for a more efficiently operating hard drive; a Disk cleaner can find files that unnecessary to computer operation, or take up
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User in a computing context refers to one who uses a computer system. Users may need to identify themselves for the purposes of accounting, security, logging and resource management.
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Deletion may have the following specialized meanings:
  • File deletion, a way of removing a file from a computer's file system
  • Deletion (genetics), deletion of a gene or chromosome segment, symbolized in the literature by a Δ symbol

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A system profiler is a program that can provide detailed information about the software installed and hardware attached to the computer. In older versions of Apple Computer's Mac OS, this was done by an application called Apple System Profiler.
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backup refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. These additional copies are typically called "backups." Backups are useful primarily for two purposes.
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In computing, a disk failure usually refers to the failure of a disc based storage device. These are usually either:-
  • A floppy disk - See buzz of death
  • A hard disk - See hard disk failure

Related articles

  • Fault-tolerant_system
  • RAID

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A disk compression software utility increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard disk drive of given size. Unlike a file compression utility which compresses only specified files - and which requires the user designate the files to be compressed - a disk
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data compression or source coding is the process of encoding information using fewer bits (or other information-bearing units) than an un-encoded representation would use through use of specific encoding schemes.
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Antivirus software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify, thwart and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software (malware).

Antivirus software typically uses two different techniques to accomplish this:

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For the Chumbawamba album, see .


WYSIWYG (IPA Pronunciation [wɪziwɪg] or [wiziwɪg]), is an acronym for What
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Creator Latest stable version OS Cost (US$) Software license Open source
ASuite SalvadorSoftware 1.4 Microsoft Windows Free GPL Yes
Butler Peter Maurer 4.1.2 Mac OS X Free Donationware No
Colibri Michael Walter 17a Microsoft Windows Free Freeware No
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