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Unit 4 Ict 111 Intro

The document provides an overview of system utilities essential for computer maintenance, including antivirus software, disk defragmenters, and backup utilities. It emphasizes the importance of antivirus software in protecting against malware and highlights various popular antivirus options. Additionally, it explains the roles of disk cleaning and defragmentation in optimizing computer performance and the necessity of backing up data to prevent loss.

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6 views12 pages

Unit 4 Ict 111 Intro

The document provides an overview of system utilities essential for computer maintenance, including antivirus software, disk defragmenters, and backup utilities. It emphasizes the importance of antivirus software in protecting against malware and highlights various popular antivirus options. Additionally, it explains the roles of disk cleaning and defragmentation in optimizing computer performance and the necessity of backing up data to prevent loss.

Uploaded by

Peter Parker
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UNIT 4

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING

ICT 111

MR CHOLA A

http://chola07.github.io/chola-Resume/
SYSTEM UTILITIES

System utility software is required for the maintenance of computer. System


utilities are used for supporting and enhancing the programs and the data in
computer. Some system utilities may come embedded with OS and others may be
added later on.
EXAMPLES OF SYSTEM UTILITIES
Anti-virus utility to scan computer for viruses.
 Data Compression utility to compress the files.
 Cryptographic utility to encrypt and decrypt files.
 Disk Compression utility to compress contents of a disk for increasing the capacity of a disk.
 Disk Partitioning to divide a single drive into multiple logical drives. Each drive is then treated as an
individual drive and has its own file system.
 Disk Cleaners to find files that have not been used for a long time. It helps the user to decide
what to delete when the hard disk is full.
 Backup Utility to make a copy of all information stored on the disk. It also restores the backed-
up contents in case of disk failure.
 System Profiling Utility provides detailed information about the software installed on the
computer and the hardware attached to it.
 Network Managers to check the computer network and to log events.
ANTI-VIRUS UTILITIES

One of the things that complicate the use of computers is computer virus. A computer
virus is a computer program designed to harm the computer. Some viruses can cause
very serious havoc such as deletion of data, corruption of programs and flooding of
storage or memory. No one likes these experiences. Therefore, a computer needs
some defence against viruses. One form of defence is through use of antivirus
software. Antivirus software is meant to identify and remove viruses from the infected
computer. In modern computer usage, a computer without antivirus software is like
living in a country without security forces, such as police, immigration or military
units. Without antivirus, a computer is extremely vulnerable to virus attacks and
other security bleaches, more so if the computer is part of an extended network such
as the Internet.
IMPORTANCE OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

The main role of antivirus is to protect computers from viruses, users must implement antivirus
software, which acts as a security barrier against malware threats. The importance of antivirus
software includes:

• Detecting and Removing Viruses


• Real-time Protection
• Firewall and Network Security
• Prevention of Data Loss
• Protection Against Phishing Attacks
• Improved System Performance
Examples of Popular Antivirus Software

1. Windows Defender – Built into Windows operating systems for basic protection.
2. Norton Antivirus – Provides strong virus protection and additional security features.
3. McAfee Total Protection – Offers real-time protection, firewall security, and identity protection.
4. Kaspersky Antivirus – Known for detecting and removing advanced threats.
5. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus – Provides multi-layered protection against cyber threats.
6. Avast Free Antivirus – A free option with basic security features.
7. ESET NOD32 Antivirus – Offers proactive protection and advanced threat detection.
DISK DEFRAGMENTER UTILITIES
Have you come across the saying ‘divided we fall, united we stand’? As you use your
computer, many things happen without you knowing. For example, as you delete files and
create new ones, or as you install new programs and uninstall unwanted ones, the files on
your storage system (e.g. the hard disk) split up. Technically this is called fragmentation.
Note that fragmentation does not mean that the files are now not usable. It means that
pieces of the file are in many different places within the storage medium. Now think about
this. Suppose that you store your documents in a file cabinet and some of them have been
shredded to pieces. What happens next time when you want to read one of such
documents? You can imagine the amount of time you would spend looking for the pieces
and putting them back together before the document can be readable. This is what
happens when fragmentation occurs on the disk. Each time the computer wants to read
documents that have been fragmented, it takes much time to find the file fragments and
assemble them again. This causes the computer to become slow. Therefore, we need to use
a program which can check if the files on the disk are fragmented. This is the role of the
disk defragmenter. When run, the disk defragmenter checks for
disk fragmentation and gives a report about the degree of fragmentation. The
report includes a recommendation of whether defragmentation is necessary or
not. If defragmentation is necessary, you carry out the process. During disk
defragmentation, the disk defragmenter picks the fragments of every file,
assembles and moves them to new locations on the disk. With this done, the
computer does not have to look for and assemble file fragments every time the
file is to be read. This makes the computer to operate at normal speed. Using
disk defragmenter is one technique the so-called computer experts always
carry out as they fine-tune a computer. Actually, every computer user must
learn or be able to use disk defragmenter. If you have understood what disk
defragmentation is, let us learn about another technique which ‘computer
experts’ use to fine-tube a computer. This is called disk cleaning.
DISK CLEANING UTILITIES

What is disk cleaning, and how is it done? If you have lived in your house for some time,
you must have accumulated a lot of stuff some of which is no longer useful. What’s
wrong with keeping such unwanted stuff, and what do you do with it? You must agree
that unwanted stuff merely takes up space in your house which you would use for
keeping more useful items. Then you remove or get rid of all that’s not wanted. This is
what disk cleaning is all about in a computer. As you use your computer, it accumulates
many files. Many of these files become useless and merely decrease storage space on
the disk. Since the performance of the computer is also determined by how much free
disk space is there, a computer whose storage space has been decreased by these
unwanted files becomes very slow. A disk cleaning utility, such as Scandisk in Microsoft
Windows, checks for the presence of useless files on the disk. It gives a report which
indicates how much storage space each of these files is occupying. By examining the
report, you decide which of them you want to remove from your computer. Once you
have done the selection, you instruct Scandisk to delete the unwanted files.
BACKUP
I remember a colleague of mine who once ‘sweated’ when his examination which he
had saved on his flash disk failed to open when it was required for printing.
Actually, the computer reported that the disk was unusable. All efforts to retrieve
data from the storage medium were in vain. As he had destroyed the draft copies
after saving the document, he had to start setting the paper all over again. This
colleague almost swore never to use a computer again. Such miserable experiences
are common if one uses a computer without putting a disaster recovery plan in
place. What this colleague did not know was that all important data must have been
backed up. The backup utility does just this. It makes a copy of all the data saved
on the disk. When disaster strikes, you can fall back on the backed-up data. Backing
up is more effective if you store the copy on a different medium. For example, you
can back up the data which is on your internal hard disk and save the copy on the
external hard disk. Or you can copy all the important data from one flash disk and
put it on another flash disk.
END !

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