Software Utilities

Software utilities are programs that add functionality and enhance the performance of computer systems. They are very important and should be taken into account to avoid having slow computers and malicious viruses or spyware from entering and damaging the system’s functionality. However, despite them being a crucial part of every single computer system, some still choose to neglect them because they are not compulsory to be able to run programs. But in my opinion, they shouldn’t be ignored at all, because risks are still risks. Without them, maintaining the life of computers can be quite tricky and chances are, the computer will worsen overtime quicker than expected. To add that extra capability that might’ve been partly provided by an operating system e.g. Windows, will make a lot of difference on the computer’s performance. So why not? Everyone hates slow computers.

These vital utilities that analyzes unwanted software, protects the system, helps it perform better, and maintain its existence (e.g. in Windows, it withholds the ‘blue screen of death’), include things such as firewalls, disk and internet history cleanup and disk defragmenter (see table below).

Software Utility	Example(s)	Purpose
Security	Firewalls	The main objective of firewalls is to protect computers by inspecting information coming in and out from a network (e.g. real life, it acts as a ‘security guard’ in businesses, or a ‘wall’ in offices that stops unwanted things from coming in/prevents ‘fire’ from spreading from one are to another). Once the information is examined the software utility, it is then either blocked or approved before it can penetrate the computer, diminishing unwanted things like hackers and viruses from entering the system. A typical example of how this utility is used is when downloading from the internet (e.g. music, picture, movie etc.), because computer addresses are automatically sent to the website downloaded something from once the process starts. By clicking ‘download’, the user basically gives the website the permission to access their computer address, which sounds rather unsafe. But with firewalls installed on computers, unwanted things (e.g. those trying to access computer systems without the user’s permission) are prevented from entering the PC. If the firewall figures that the website’s address was consented by the user, it lets this enter the PC. However, if the firewall doesn’t recognise this address, it will block this attack from entering the system.
Cleanup tools	Disk Cleanup                     Internet History	Disk Cleanup is a utility that is built in Microsoft Windows; its job is to remove unnecessary files on the computer to provide space for new/more important files. It does this by giving the user the freedom of selecting which drive to clean up, scanning and calculating how much space can be saved with the procedure, asking the user which files to delete e.g. recycle bin , and then performing the cleaning up process by removing junk and unwanted files that are no longer of any use.   Clearing internet history can speed up the performance of computer systems, particularly when browsing the Internet. This is because as the user opens a browser, it also tries to recollect things such as bookmarks and internet history, and therefore, slowing the process down. Which is why it is beneficial to clean internet history every now and then –so that the browser doesn’t take too long recollecting (especially during the start-up process and when the user is actually trying to find a certain website browsed in the past). On the other hand, it is also crucial that this is not taken into action when a fundamental website that was previously browsed is saved only on this history. But personally, what I would recommend is save the URL somewhere else and delete the internet history to speed up the process of the system and in particular, when browsing.
Defragmentation	Disk Defragmenter	The purpose of disk defragmenting is to collect files and folders on the computer to one place so that they can be read by the ‘head(s)’ of the hard drive a lot quicker. Overtime, each file and folder gets broken up and distributed all over the hard drive’s empty places. For example, when a 300MB is saved on the computer, it will probably be saved on thousands of difference pieces spread across the hard drive. As a result, when opening the file, the computer may take some time because it first has to search for those scattered pieces so that they can be re-assembled to make the 300MB file (in order) for the user. This is the reason why over a period of time, opening files and folders can be challenging for the computer, causing the process to slow down. Therefore, defragmenting shouldn’t be neglected like it currently is by many users; it should be done once a month at the very least as recommended by many experts.

Software Utility	How can this improve the performance of computer systems?	Improvements that could be made to the utility
Security –  Firewalls	Firewalls make computer systems less vulnerable to viruses and intruders, improving its performance because viruses tend to make computers slow and do things without the user’s command. With firewalls acting like a shield protecting the computer from unauthorised access e.g. by hackers, it is essentially preventing the computer from being harmed and functioning inexplicably. If a hacker accesses the system, it is practically in control of it depending on the virus coding. Malicious coding can include objectives such as shutting down the computer randomly, creating/deleting files, increasing the number of errors, freezes/ loading time, and disrupting the hard drive (depending on what the creator coded it to do); this is why firewalls would benefit computer systems – it will try its very best to avoid any of the things mentioned above from happening, improving the system’s performance e.g. less errors, freezes/loading times. It will also just follow the commands given by the user rather than being told by the virus what might be a damaging thing to do.	It’s not 100% certain that firewalls will protect the computer from every single malicious virus out there (it can be beaten by some). So to improve, the utility could be stronger, particularly the built-in ones, because although the built-in ones are free and come with the computer, they are not as effective as those that can be purchased, “you get what you pay for”. However, because these purchasable ones can be difficult/challenging to install and quite costly, they disable those who have financial issues to protect their computer as much as possible. Therefore, these pricey utilities should be cheaper. Alternatively, the built-in ones should be enabled for (free) quick upgrades (improvements) to defeat those viruses that may be newly invented. They should also try better to persuade user’s to turn them on most/all of the time, as having them off increases security risk and makes the system more prone to hackers and viruses. They could do this by allowing the user to customize the utility even more so they can enable certain programs as they command/wish to do so without having to turn the utility completely off.
Cleanup tools – Disk Cleanup	This Windows maintenance utility helps computers run faster and more efficiently by clearing the Recycle Bin and easily identifying which old/unwanted/excess temporary files on the hard drive should be compressed or removed. As a result, the space on the hard drive is recovered, making the usage of the utility crucial (at least 1-2 times a month depending on how often the PC is used), so that the computer stays to run smoothly. The utility may also discard accidently downloaded malicious files trying to attack the computer and its performance after the cleaning process, potentially speeding up its performance that was probably rather poor because of the malware e.g. when browsing on the Internet.	Personally trying the Disk Cleanup gave me an overview of the positive as well as negative aspects of the utility. For me, the main improvement that could be done to it is to enhance the speed of the process; it was really time-consuming and rather irritating the amount of time I had to wait until the procedure ended. Although it was my first time trying it on my laptop, I was still expecting it to be faster than what it was like. If I had given the utility a go before identifying the positive sides from doing it and had to wait for 30 minutes with the process still going (perhaps half way through), I probably would’ve just pressed ‘Cancel’, and I’m sure that other people will do too/be put off with how much time the process can eat away, resulting these individuals to not be able to visualize how the utility can improve the PC’s performance and potentially stopping them from trying the procedure again. Hence why I think that the speed of the process should be improved significantly. Additionally, the built-in utility should encourage users to try the cleaning up process more often by notifying them and giving them details on the many positive effects of using it.
Defragmentation – Disk Defragmenter	This utility makes files easier/faster for the computer to read and the user to access due to the data being closer together as opposed to being spread out. When a computer is defragmented, each individual file is moved so that they are more organised, increasing the PC’s performance due to the hard drive being neater and its role a lot easier. These enhanced performances after defragmenting include several things such as, rapid access when… ·         turning the computer on as files are more compressed and therefore, found much easier and quicker ·         playing games where the loading/freezing time is minimised ·         browsing files e.g. in 'my computer' and 'my documents' where the user won’t have to wait when opening different files at once ·         browsing on the Internet where multi-browsing is done a lot faster Overall, defragmenting reduces computer freezes because sometimes, the user will be tempted to close what they’ve tried to open (e.g. a file) if it loads too slowly, resulting a potential annoying computer freeze. In addition to a defragmented PC, other performances when opening files can also be improved when opening from a memory stick, as these can be separately defragmented.	An improvement that I immediately thought of when I defragmented my computer with the built-in disk defragmenter on Windows 7 was to have  a graphical representation of what is currently happening to the hard drive so that the users are visually informed of how the procedure is tidying up and improving the position of each file saved on their computers. Also, just like the disk cleanup, the speed process should be enhanced and not too time-consuming to increase the number of people who uses the utility and avoid losing those who does use it.