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Utility Software - Wikipedia

Utility software is system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize, or maintain a computer. It supports the computer infrastructure and is often used alongside application software. Utilities perform tasks like backing up databases, compressing disks, scanning for viruses, testing memory, and installing or updating other software. While operating systems include basic utilities, users often install additional or replacement utilities to provide extra capabilities beyond the OS.

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307 views12 pages

Utility Software - Wikipedia

Utility software is system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize, or maintain a computer. It supports the computer infrastructure and is often used alongside application software. Utilities perform tasks like backing up databases, compressing disks, scanning for viruses, testing memory, and installing or updating other software. While operating systems include basic utilities, users often install additional or replacement utilities to provide extra capabilities beyond the OS.

Uploaded by

Edward Nodzo
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Utility software

Utility software is system software


designed to help to analyze, configure,
optimize or maintain a computer.[1] It is
used to support the computer
infrastructure - in contrast to application
software, which is aimed at directly
performing tasks that benefit ordinary
users. Utilities often form part of
application systems however. For example
a batch job may run user-written code to
update a database and may then include a
step that runs a utility to back up the
database, or a job may run a utility to
compress a disk before copying files.

Although a basic set of utility programs is


usually distributed with an operating
system (OS), and utility software is
considered part of the operating system,
users often install replacements or
additional utilities. It provides additional
facilities to carry out tasks which are
beyond the capabilities of the operating
system.

Many utilities which might affect the entire


computer system require the user to have
elevated privileges, while others, which
operate only on the user's data, do not.

System utilities
Anti-virus utilities scan for computer
viruses and remove them.
Clipboard managers expand the
clipboard functionality of an operating
system .
Memory testers check for memory
failures.
Package managers are used to
configure, install or keep up to date other
software on a computer.
Registry cleaners clean and optimize the
Windows Registry by removing old
registry keys that are no longer in use.
Screensavers were desired to prevent
phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma
computer monitors by blanking the
screen or filling it with moving images or
patterns when the computer is not in
use. Contemporary screensavers are
used primarily for entertainment or
security.
Network utilities analyze the computer's
network connectivity, configure network
settings, check data transfer or log
events.
System monitors monitor resources and
performance in a computer system.
System profilers provide detailed
information about the software installed
and hardware attached to the computer.

Storage device management


utilities
Disk checkers scan an operating hard
drive and check for logical (filesystem) or
physical errors.
Disk compression utilities transparently
compress/uncompress the contents of a
disk, increasing the capacity of the disk.
Disk defragmenters detect computer
files whose contents are scattered
across several locations on the hard disk,
and move the fragments to one location
to increase efficiency.
Disk formatters prepares a data storage
device such as a hard disk drive, solid-
state drive, floppy disk or USB flash drive
for initial use.
Disk partition editors divide an individual
drive into multiple logical drives, each
with its own file system which can be
mounted by the operating system and
treated as an individual drive.
Disk space analyzers provide a
visualization of disk space usage by
getting the size for each folder (including
sub folders) and files in folder or drive.
showing the distribution of the used
space.
Tape initializers write a label to a
magnetic tape or other magnetic
medium. Initializers for DECtape
formatted the tape into blocks.

File management utilities


Archivers output a stream or a single file
when provided with a directory or a set of
files. Archive suites may include
compression and encryption capabilities.
Some archive utilities have a separate
un-archive utility for the reverse
operation.
Backup software makes copies of all
information stored on a disk and restores
either the entire disk (e.g. in an event of
disk failure) or selected files (e.g. in an
event of accidental deletion).
Cryptographic utilities encrypt and
decrypt streams and files.
Data compression utilities output a
shorter stream or a smaller file when
provided with a stream or file.
Data synchronization utilities establish
consistency among data from a source
to a target data storage and vice versa.
There are several branches of this type of
utility:
File synchronization utilities
maintain consistency between two
sources. They may be used to
create redundancy or backup copies
but are also used to help users carry
their digital music, photos and video
in their mobile devices.
Revision control utilities can
recreate a coherent structure where
multiple users simultaneously
modify the same file.
Disk cleaners find files that are
unnecessary to computer operation, or
take up considerable amounts of space.
Disk cleaner helps the user to decide
what to delete when their hard disk is full.
File managers provide a convenient
method of performing routine data
management, email recovery and
management tasks, such as deleting,
renaming, cataloging, uncataloging,
moving, copying, merging, generating
and modifying folders and data sets.

Miscellaneous utilities
Data generators create a file of test data
according to specified patterns.
Hex editors directly modify the text or
data of a file. These files can be data or
an actual program.
HTML checkers validate HTML code and
check links.
Sort/Merge programs arrange records
(lines) in a file into a specified sequence.

References
1. Parsons, June Jamrich; Oja, Dan (2013).
New Perspectives on Computer Concepts
2014: Comprehensive . Course Technology.
p. 129.

See also
Support programs for OS/360 and
successors
List of Unix commands
Batch script
Shell script

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Utility_software&oldid=869998390"

Last edited 11 days ago by Chatul

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