Software Utilities - P3

Software utilities – P3

There are many different software utilities, they have many different functions but the two main ones that I am going to write about is virus protection software and firewalls, as these both have an important function in keeping your computer safe and sometimes you can get a programme that has both pieces of software in one.

First I am going to explain what virus protection software does, this piece of software has a vital to any computer, since it stops any infections from getting into your computer, although no anti-virus will protect you 100% from viruses, it can protect you 97% of the time, simply because new viruses are made every day, doing different things to harm your computer.

So what is a virus?

A Virus is a piece of software or malware that gets into your computer system and it can severely damage it, doing things that can stop you from loading your computer, to using it as a key logger to find out personal information, like credit card details ECT.. and this is why it is vital to have anti-virus software to make it almost impossible for this to happen.

There are many different companies who offer many different anti-virus software, a few of them are AVG, Norton Anti-virus and Mcafee anti-virus. Some of these are free, but some of them you have to pay for.

So what might happen if you don’t have anti-virus software?

If you don’t have a good piece of anti-virus software, then if someone hacks into your system and plants a virus on it, then you could face things like: your computer is unable to boot up, fraud, constant pop-ups advertising and more things that you wouldn’t wish for on your computer and that is why having anti-virus is vital.

  

The other utility I am going to talk about that is for your computer system is a firewall, windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 and some MAC Operating Systems have a firewall that is already installed into the operating system. A firewall is a piece of software that filters any unwanted traffic coming in through the internet, the firewall opens ‘ports’ for certain connections you are using, and connections that are unwanted are automatically blocked by your firewall, stopping any unwanted trespassers from getting into your computer system.

So what would happen if you don’t have a firewall?

If you don’t have a firewall, it will allow trespassers access to your system, giving them access to all of your personal details, including your bank account details, and possibly more, anything that you have stored on your computer, it can also allow people to ‘plant’ a virus into your computer. So both a firewall and anti-virus is vital for your computer.

Sometimes people switch the firewall off as it speeds up the connection to the internet because it doesn’t have to pass through the firewall first, but this is unadvisable, as it will leave your computer open to hackers, who will hack into your computer and steal your personal information. So keeping a firewall on at all times when using the internet is what you should do, as it will keep any unwanted traffic away from the compter.