Utility software
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Utility software is software that supports managing the computer infrastructure including computer hardware, system software and application software. Utility software provides for performing tasks as a system administrator (that is, as a user acting in that role). In contrast, application software provides for performing tasks as an end user.
A utility is software that can be classified as utility software. Often a utility is a distinct program, but sometimes multiple utilities are implemented in a single program. For example, BusyBox implements many utilities in a single program. Commonly, a utility provides a command-line interface, but some provide a graphical user interface.
Although an operating system (OS) installation usually includes utilities (which are considered part of the OS), users often install additional utilities. The additional utilities may provide a better user experience or additional functionality.
Often, a user must be authorized for elevated privileges to use a utility since it may affect other users of the system.
Taxonomy
This section is a taxonomy of kinds of utilities.
System management
Protects the host system from computer viruses.
Expands clipboard functionality.
Grants or denies requests for access to system resources.
Provides for programming-level control of program execution including the examination and modification of program data.
Determines and reports the operational status of computer hardware and software. For example, a memory tester.
Analyzes the host system's network connectivity, configures network settings, reports data transfer and log events.
Configures, installs and updates software on the host system.
Cleans and optimizes the Windows Registry by removing old registry keys that are no longer in use.
Monitors resources and performance of the host system.
Reports information about installed software and hardware.
Storage device management
Copies data from a storage device for the purpose of recovering from data loss due to events such as disk failure, file corruption or accidental deletion.
Checks a disk for problems.
Duplicates the content of a disk.
Transparently compress/uncompress the content of a disk, increasing the capacity of the disk.
Reorganizes the data of each file so that it is stored contiguously.
Writes to a disk so that it can be used for a particular format. Can prepare a disk for initial use or erase the entire disk.
Divides an disk into multiple logical drives, each with its own file system which can be mounted by the operating system.
Visualizes disk space use for each file and directory.
Tape initializer
Writes a label to a magnetic tape or other magnetic medium.
Supports recovering files that were deleted.
File management
Outputs a stream or a single file when provided with a directory or a set of files. Archive suites may include compression and encryption capabilities. Some archive utilities have a separate un-archive utility for the reverse operation. One nearly universal type of archive file format is the zip file.
Encrypts and decrypts streams and files.
Outputs a shorter stream or a smaller file when provided with a stream or file.
Transforms data from a source file to some other format, such as from a text file to a PDF document.
Recovers data from corrupted files.
Establishes consistency among data from a source to a target data storage and vice versa.
Deletes files that are unnecessary to computer operation, or take up considerable amounts of space.
Reports differences between files.
Provides an interface for performing file management tasks such as deleting, renaming, cataloging, moving, copying, merging, setting file access, creating and modifying directories.
Maintains consistency between two storages for various purposes including redundancy and backup.
Manages revisions of files.
Miscellaneous
Creates a file of test data according to specified patterns. For example, IEBDG.
Allows for editing the data of a file without regard its format.
Validates HTML code and checks links.
Installation or setup
Initializes or configures programs, usually applications programs, for use in a specific computer environment. An uninstaller does the opposite.
Macro recorder
Permits use of keyboard macros in programs that do not natively support such a feature.
Modifies files, especially object programs when program source is unavailable.
Controls the host monitor with the intention of preventing phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma monitors.
Sort/Merge program
Arranges records (usually lines) of a file into a specified sequence.