Explain the purpose of different software utilities
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Course
Unit 2 - Computer Systems
Institution
Pearson (PEARSON)
Explain how software utilities can improve the performance of computer systems, Explain the purpose of different software utilities.
Your booklet should contain an explanation on the purpose of different software utilities and the roles they perform within a computer system:
Utilities should incl...
explain the purpose of different software utilities
explain how software utilities can improve the performance of computer systems
Written for
BTEC
Pearson (PEARSON)
Information Technology 2010 QCF
Unit 2 - Computer Systems
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SOFTWARE UTILITIES
Security
Viruses
A computer virus is a program that, when executed can replicate itself multiple times into other programs,
data files or the boot section of the hard drive. It can stop the computer from functioning normally or stop it
from working altogether. There are thousands of viruses and there are always new ones being discovered
every day.
Mydoom is a virus that infected two million PC’s and caused millions of dollars in damage. It was a virus that
was spread through email and disguising itself as a bounced message. When the email was opened the
malicious code downloaded itself and took all the victims addresses from its outlook address book. It made
the virus easily spread to the victim’s friends, family and colleagues.
Sapphire only infected a few thousand computers and caused the internet hosts general traffic to slow down
completely. It worked by releasing millions of network packets, bringing the internet on hundreds of servers
to slow or halt completely. It spread through the internet by selecting random IP addresses and could
eventually effect non PC’s like ATMs, the 911 system, an Airline system and a nuclear plant.
They are programmed to harm the computer by deleting its files, damaging programs and reformatting the
hard drive. Their lesser viruses can disrupt the computer systems performance by simply eating all the
memory and causing it to crash frequently. The most common symptoms of having a virus is slow computer
performance, strange and erratic computer behavior, data loss that is unexplained and computer crashes.
You can accidently catch a virus through normal internet activities like sharing music, files or photos with
other users. It can be caught from visiting an infected website, opening an email attachment or just opening
an email, downloading free games and anything else as well as installing software applications without
reading the license agreements.
To minimize the risk of getting a virus, make sure that the best security and antivirus software products are
installed on the computer. The operating system should be updated regularly so that new virus information is
fed into the firewall, the antivirus software should always be updated regularly as well. Increasing the
browser security settings can also prevent viruses being downloaded when the user is visiting websites. Only
download software and files from websites you trust, by making sure you avoid questionable websites and
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