Utility Software

• Dedicated programs used for the maintenance and organisation of a computer system.

• Anti-malware • Data Compression • Backup software • Disk Checkers • Disk Formatters • Encryption • Firewall • Auto-Updaters

• When the file splits into parts that are saved in different storage locations.

• When there is limited continuous space in which to store a file. • This may happen as data is stored and then later deleted on the hard drive. • New files are created which may be bigger than the spaces left by the deleted files. • The new files are then split up.

• Files that are fragmented take longer to load and read because of the distance between the fragments of the file.

• Empty spaces are collected together on the hard disk drive and file fragments are moved to be stored together. • This means that fewer disc accesses are needed (requiring less physical movement) as files can be read consecutively.

• Takes less time to read and access because the data is stored contiguously. • The read/write head of the hard drive doesn’t need to move as far to read the next piece of data because it is in the adjacent memory location, saving time. • It is also quicker to save new files because there is more free space together so it does not need to split the file and can store the data contiguously.