Operating System Utilities

We have seen that the fundamental purpose of the operating system is to manage the various system resources. We have also examined the human computer interface which allows us to interact with the operating system. There is, however, a significant body of software that, while not strictly part of the operating system itself, cannot be described as application software. This software is often bundled with the operating system software, and comes under the general heading of utility software.

Utility software can include file re-organisation utilities, backup programs, and a whole range of communication services. Many of the utilities that are bundled with a particular operating system are installed by default, although a significant number are optional and must be explicitly selected for installation.

The number and type of utility program provided varies from one operating system to another, but common examples include facilities to partition and format hard drives and floppy disks, file encryption and compression utilities, and task scheduling programs. These utilities are often implemented as stand-alone programs and can be run by the user in much the same way as an application program. In many cases, there are a number of proprietary utility programs on the market that carry out the same tasks, but with additional value added features.


The Windows 7 Task Scheduler

The Windows 7 Task Scheduler