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System Software Software is a generic term for an organized collection of computer data and instructions. There are two types of software: application software and system software. Application software helps users solve a particular problem or carry out a specific task.
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A word processor is an example of application software. System software coordinates the activities and functions of hardware and software, and it controls the operations of computer hardware. A computer's operating system is an example of system software. Operating systems control the computer hardware and act as an interface with application programs.
System software also includes utility software, device drivers and firmware, which we will be looking at in this lesson. Utility Software Utility software helps to manage, maintain and control computer resources. Operating systems typically contain the necessary tools for this, but separate utility programs can provide improved functionality. Utility software is often somewhat technical and targeted at users with a solid knowledge of computers. If you use a computer mostly for e-mail, some Internet browsing and typing up a report, you may not have much need for these utilities. However, if you are an avid computer user, these utilities can help make sure your computer stays in tip-top shape.
Examples of utility programs are antivirus software, backup software and disk tools. Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail. Antivirus software, as the name suggests, helps to protect a computer system from viruses and other harmful programs. A computer virus is a computer program that can cause damage to a computer's software, hardware or data. It is referred to as a virus because it has the capability to replicate itself and hide inside other computer files. One of the most common ways to get a virus is to download a file from the Internet. Antivirus software scans your online activity to make sure you are not downloading infected files.
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New viruses are coming out all the time, so antivirus software needs to be updated very frequently. Backup software helps in the creation of a backup of the files on your computer. Most computer systems use a hard disk drive for storage. While these are generally very robust, they can fail or crash, resulting in costly data loss. Backup software helps you copy the most important files to another storage device, such as an external hard disk. You can also make an exact copy of your hard disk.
Increasingly, backup software uses cloud storage to create backups. This typically means you pay a fee to use the storage space of a third party and use their backup software to manage which files are going to be backed up. Disk tools include a range of different tools to manage hard disk drives and other storage devices. This includes utilities to scan the hard disks for any potential problems, disk cleaners to remove any unnecessary files, and disk defragmenters to re-organize file fragments on a hard disk drive to increase performance. Disk tools are important because a failure of a hard disk drive can have disastrous consequences. Keeping disks running efficiently is an important part of overall computer maintenance.
Device Drivers A device driver is a computer program that controls a particular device that is connected to your computer. Typical devices are keyboards, printers, scanners, digital cameras and external storage devices. Each of these need a driver in order to work properly. Device drivers act as a translator between the operating system of the computer and the device connected to it.
For many types of devices, the necessary drivers are built into the operating system. When you plug in a device, the operating system starts looking for the right driver, installs it and you are ready to start using the device. This is referred to as plug-and-play and is much preferred over having to manually install the correct drivers. There are so many different devices, however, that not all of them are built into the operating system. As an alternative, the operating system can look online to find the right driver to install. Many hardware devices, however, come with the necessary drivers. For example, if you buy a printer, it may come with a CD that typically will include the correct driver.
The advantage of this is that the hardware manufacturer can make sure you have the right driver for the printer. Firmware Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. It includes the instructions to control hardware, which is just like software. It also includes hardware in the form of the actual memory chip where the instructions are stored.
Technically, firmware consists of permanent software stored into read-only memory. Computer systems use a special type of firmware known as BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System. It represents the basic code to get the computer started. You can think of BIOS as the firmware for the motherboard of your computer.
The BIOS determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. It contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communications, and a number of other functions. The BIOS is typically placed in a read-only memory, or ROM, chip that comes with the computer - it is therefore often called a ROM BIOS. ROM is a type of non-volatile storage, which means that the information is maintained even if the computer loses power. In a typical computer system, the ROM chip is located on the motherboard. This ensures that the BIOS will always be available and will not be damaged by disk failures. It also makes it possible for a computer to boot itself.
Firmware may need to be updated to fix minor bugs or add features to the device. For example, perhaps you have a DVD player connected to your TV to play movies, but it can also stream movies from online streaming services. Under most circumstances, you don't need to make any changes to your DVD player, but once in a while, you may get a message on your TV that some type of update is needed.
This will typically be a firmware update for the device. Since your device is set up to connect to the internet, the update can be downloaded and installed automatically.
However, in some devices, the firmware is permanent and cannot be changed. The BIOS of a computer may need updating once in a while, but this is not very common. Modifying the BIOS is typically a task performed by a computer specialist trying to repair a computer system that has not been performing as expected. Lesson Summary System software coordinates the activities and functions of hardware and software, and it controls the operations of computer hardware. System software includes operating systems, utility software, device drivers and firmware.
Operating systems control the computer hardware and act as an interface with application programs. Utility software helps to manage, maintain and control computer resources. Examples of utility programs are antivirus software, backup software and disk tools. A device driver is a computer program that controls a particular device that is connected to your computer. Firmware consists of persistent memory with program code and data. Computer systems use a special type of firmware known as BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System. This represents the basic code to get the computer started.
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Learning Outcomes After you've completed this lesson, you should have the ability to:. Describe three types of utility programs. Summarize the purpose of device drivers. Explain what firmware does and what a basic input/output system is.
PCMag reviews products, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. For years, PCMag has brought you an ever-bigger, ever-better list of desktop software that will cost you absolutely nothing. As of last year, we shook things up a bit. Instead of an annual look at the best free software, we went monthly. Since software can cost thousands, you might wonder why and how you can score immensely useful programs for free. This happens for the very good business reason that developers often try to gain traction with the public by giving away their product, or at least a 'lite' version of it, in the hope that you'll upgrade to a paid version. It's called the freemium model.
Sometimes all they want is a donation. In other cases the programs display ads to keep the money flowing. In the end, by giving it away the developers gain recognition at the very least, if not money straight away. More importantly, it serves you, the user, because you've got access to tools for your computer that rival anything you'd pay for. We're throwing in all the worthy apps that run on Windows 7 and 8, the latest MacOS, and of course, the cloud-based Web apps that run in a browser like Chrome, Firefox, or IE to use anywhere.
We'll let you know which OS each title runs on, and if it has a mobile version you should nab for your smartphone. Look for a new category of free software titles every month. Be sure to let us know what freebies you'd like to see next, and as always, tell us in the comments section if we missed your favorite. Topics from 2014:. Topics from 2013:.
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From 2012:.