5.2 Utility software

Question 1

Utility software

Answer 1

Utility software is software designed to help maintain, enhance and troubleshoot/repair a computer system.
Utility software is designed to perform a limited number of tasks.
Utility software interacts with the computers hardware, for example, secondary storage devices.
Some utility software comes installed with the operating system.

Question 2

Defragmentation

Answer 2

Defragmentation software groups fragmented files back together in order to improve access speed.
As programs and data are added to a new hard disk drive, it is added in order, over time as files are deleted this leaves gaps.
These gaps get filled and data becomes fragmented.
Defragmentation can only be used on magnetic storage.

Question 3

Compression

Answer 3

Compression reduces the amount of secondary storage required by performing an algorithm on the original data.
Lossy compression physically removes data from the original data to reduce its size, the original file can not be re-created.
Lossless compression uses mathematics to order data more efficiently reducing its size, the original files can be re-created as no data is lost.

Question 4

Encryption

Answer 4

Encryption is the process of scrambling data using an algorithm from plain-text into cipher-text in order to make it unreadable to users without the master key.
Encryption software enhances the security of the computer system and keeps data safe.