Purpose of various software utilities Essay Example for Free

Purpose of various software utilities Essay Virus protection – virus protection protects a computer system from malicious viruses and Trojans and worms which you can be infected by through the internet or email or downloading files or through a USB flash drive etc. virus protection usually consists of a firewall, virus scanner, virus remover and spyware. With virus protection you can perform a scan on your computer to check if you have been infected by any viruses or Trojans or worms. With some virus protections software’s you can scan your computer then it will ask you if you want the viruses removed, also if any programs have been infected the virus protection will ask you if you want the infected program deleted, most virus protection programs quarantine the infected programs in case they are not really viruses. The main purpose of anti-virus software is to protect your computer form getting viruses, it does this by scanning downloads and attachments for viruses, it does this in the background while the user is performing other tasks. If the user does come across a virus the program will warn the user and give the user the option of deleting it before it infects the computer. Some virus protection programs protect the user against spyware, this is a malicious program that enters a computer through internet, the threat usually comes through pop-up ads or bad internet websites, if a threat does come through the virus protection will warn the user and give the user an option to eliminate the threat before it harms the computer. Firewalls – the purpose of a firewall is to block intruders by looking for suspicious words such as domain names or IP addresses, certain protocols like file transfer protocol, ports and routing through a proxy service. There are two types of firewalls, hardware firewalls and software firewalls. Software firewalls provide another coating of security, software firewalls prohibit malware on your computer from being sent to others. Hardware firewalls treat any kind of traffic from travelling from a local network out to the internet as safe. An example of a threat entering your computer could be, you visit a website that contains a hidden malicious program that’s designed to secretly install itself on your machine and then send information out via the internet, this maybe to steal personal information, this is one method of infection. It is very dangerous to operate the internet without a firewall because then you will not be notified if a malicious program is trying to enter your computer and if you  do not have a firewall it will not be able to protect you from malicious programs that will damage your computer. A hardware firewall is a physical device that connects to a computer and is configurable through connection to it or either through using the internet browser or through a command line interface. Clean up tools e.g. removal of cookies, internet history and defragmentation – the cookies in your browser are meant to make pages load faster, but they eventually start to slow down the system, overall the cookie files will become very large and this will impact on the overall speed of the system, this is where you could implement the cleaning software, the cleaning software scans for and deletes old and unnecessary data then after doing the clean-up procedure pages will take longer to open but this is normal. Internet history is a record of an internet user’s visited websites, downloaded files, saved passwords, saved internet files and cookies. By removing all your internet history is makes your computer system faster because there is more space to store files, also by removing your internet history all saved passwords will get deleted and all files downloaded will also get deleted. You should remove your internet history every couple of weeks so your history doesn’t get cluttered up, this is what makes your internet slow. Removal of internet history can be done very easily using the internet options, you can go to the tools section of your web browser. Most internet browsers such as internet explorer and Mozilla Firefox allow you to select the categories to delete internet history, this way it is much easier if you only want to delete one category instead of deleting all the categories, for example if you want to erase form data you simply click on erase form data to delete all the history in that category. When removing internet history it also gives you the option to delete cookies, deleting cookies often is a good thing because you can get hackers that use trackers to monitor your browsing activity and they can steal personal or private information. Fragmentation can cause a computer to run slower and processing problems can emerge when opening files. A defragmentation program will take the corrupted and scattered data on the drive and physically rearrange it, decreasing loading times and placing fewer problems on the computers processor. Defragmentation reduces data access and allows storage to be used more efficiently, some operating systems automatically defragment storage periodically, but others require  that the user occasionally use a special utility for this purpose. Drive formatting – formatting a hard drive enables it to be able to read and write data by creating a partition on the drive, a hard disk drive can be formatted or reformatted depending on what is being done to the drive. When a new hard drive is formatted a bootable partition is created, the partition that is created is where that operating system is installed. Formatting a hard drive requires selecting a file system that will be used on the drive, the file system is what the operating system uses to organize and allocate information that is written to various sectors on the hard disk. Formatting a hard disk will overwrite the data on the drive. The formatting process only removes the operating systems ability to read the data on the drive, data needs to be rewritten to the drive and then reformatted again to ensure that the data is no longer accessible. Registry cleaner – the purpose of a registry cleaner is to remove redundant items from the registry. A registry cleaner is designed for the use of Microsoft windows operating system. Registry cleaners have an automated procedure where it looks for invalid entries, missing file references or broken links within the registry and resolving or removing them. There are many registry cleaner programs you can download of the internet, some for free and some you have to purchase, for e.g. â€Å"CCleaner† is a registry cleaner program which is free and it works on windows 8, 7, vista and XP. CCleaner can be used to uninstall programs. It also allows changes of start-up programs, so users can disable start-up programs and CCleaner lets the user delete system restore points. Benchmarking – Benchmarking is basically running a computer program. Benchmark utilities are important in PC optimisation and troubleshooting. Benchmarking assesses the relative performance of an object, by running standard tests and trials against it. Benchmarking assesses the performance characteristics of computer hardware. There are full system benchmarks as well as those that only test certain parts of a system such as the memory, CPU function, hard drives and network connections. Benchmarks help find out if there is a problem and where the location is. Bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmark_(computing) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(computing) http://www.ladenterprizes.com/What_firewall.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_formatting http://danieleastcroftict.posterous.com/clean-up-tools-for-removal-of-cookies-and-int http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registry_cleaner

Steroid Use in Sports :: Papers Steroids Drugs Essays

Steroid Use in Sports Steroid use has become very common in the world of athletics. Steroids are no longer just used by body builders. Steroids are now becoming widely used in all sports such as baseball, football, track and field, and ice hockey. Steroids have become easy for just about anyone to get their hands on them. This has become a serious problem that needs to be taken care of immediately. A steroid is a laboratory-made version of the human hormone testosterone, which is primarily found in males. Steroids are taken by athletes to enhance the growth of muscles. There are however, certain kinds of steroids that do enhance the growth of bones. The use of steroids creates many risks that are often looked over when compared to the benefits. Some of these risks include damaging important body organs such as the liver and kidneys; some of the other risks include shrinkage of testicles in men and they may create bad breakouts of acne. There are also other side effects which result in thicker skin and courser facial hair (Mihoces, 2000) (Conaway, 1998). The problem of steroid use exists everywhere including all ages from young middle school students to forty-year-old men. A Penn State professor states in the USA Today web site that approximately 175,000 teenage girls and 375,000 teenage boys have used steroids at one time or another (Michoces, 2000). This is a serious problem when teenage boys and girls are using steroids. Unless using one specific steroid, all of these teenagers are going to stunt their growth because the most common steroids used completely halt the growth of bones and increase the growth of muscles. Many people take steroids for many different reasons but most of the athletes that take steroids take them for one reason and that is to become better at what they do. Some of the reasons that athletes take steroids are because the competition is so high. In the sport of Major League Baseball for instance, only around seven hundred players participate in a single season. There are approximately 7,100 players that play professional baseball all together, including the minor leagues. The average career in the major leagues only lasts 2.7 years. This is a rather short career and considering the amount of money to be made, every player would like to play as long as he possibly can.

Bottling Company Case Study Essay

I am the manager at a major bottling company. Customers have begun to complain that the bottles of our brand of soda contains less than the advertised sixteen (16) ounces of product. My boss has asked me to investigate and solve the problem at hand. I have asked my employees to pull and measure the amount of soda in each of thirty (30) randomly selected bottles off the line from all the shifts at the bottling plant. 1. The following calculations show the mean, median and standard deviation for the case study. Mean =14.8 The mean was calculated by getting the sum of total ounces in each bottle and then dividing that total by the sample size of thirty (30). Median = 14.8 The median is derived from the number that is in the middle, once the measurements have been placed in chronological order. Since the sample size is an even number, the median is obtained by taking the average of the two numbers in the middle. Standard Deviation = 0.55033 The standard deviation is the square root of the variance, which is average of the squares of the distance that each value is from the mean. 2. 95% Confidence Interval = 6.056489716 The CI (confidence interval) is a specific interval estimate of parameter determined by using data obtained from a sample and the specific confidence level of the estimate. 3. Conduct a hypothesis test to verify if the claim that a bottle contains less than sixteen (16) ounces is supported. Clearly state the logic of your test, the calculations, and the conclusion of your test. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete this step in the investigation for lack of  understanding and preparation. But, if I had to guess, I would say that the bottles do not contain the sixteen (16) ounces advertised. 4. Provide three (3) speculations as to why the bottles have less than sixteen (16) ounces of soda. The equipment was faulty in set up. Purposely designed to have less than sixteen (16) ounces for the purpose of expansion because acidic products need to have room for built up pressure. If a bottle has been agitated in transportation, once it is opened, there will be an exploded release of pressure. The calibration on the machine needs to be reset. In an effort to avoid the deficit in the future, the company can schedule frequent maintenance to the equipment to ensure proper function.

Ronald Reagan Assassination Attempt

On March 30, 1981, 25-year-old John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on U.S. President Ronald Reagan just outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. President Reagan was hit by one bullet, which punctured his lung. Three others were also injured in the shooting. The Shooting Around 2:25 p.m. on March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan emerged via a side door from the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. He had just finished giving a speech to a group of trade unionists at the National Conference of Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. Reagan only had to walk about 30 feet from the hotel door to his awaiting car, so the Secret Service had not thought a bullet-proof vest to be necessary. Outside, waiting for Reagan, were a number of newspapermen, members of the public, and John Hinckley Jr. When Reagan got close to his car, Hinckley pulled out his .22-caliber revolver and fired six shots in quick succession. The entire shooting took only two to three seconds. In that time, one bullet hit Press Secretary James Brady in the head and another bullet hit police officer Tom Delahanty in the neck. With lightening quick reflexes, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy spread out his body as wide as possible to become a human shield, hoping to protect the President. McCarthy was hit in the abdomen. In the mere seconds that all this was taking place, another Secret Service agent, Jerry Parr, pushed Reagan into the backseat of the awaiting presidential car. Parr then jumped on top of Reagan in an effort to protect him from further gunfire. The presidential car then quickly drove off. The Hospital At first, Reagan didnt realize that he had been shot. He thought he had maybe broken a rib when he had been thrown into the car. It wasnt until Reagan began coughing up blood that Parr realized Reagan might be seriously hurt. Parr then redirected the presidential car, which had been heading to the White House, to George Washington Hospital instead. Upon arrival at the hospital, Reagan was able to walk inside on his own, but he soon passed out from loss of blood. Reagan had not broken a rib from being thrown into the car; he had been shot. One of Hinckleys bullets had ricocheted off of the presidential car and hit Reagans torso, just under his left arm. Luckily for Reagan, the bullet had failed to explode. It had also narrowly missed his heart. By all accounts, Reagan remained in good spirits throughout the entire encounter, including making some now-famous, humorous comments. One of these comments was to his wife, Nancy Reagan, when she came to see him in the hospital. Reagan told her, Honey, I forgot to duck. Another comment was directed to his surgeons as Reagan entered the operating room. Reagan said, Please tell me youre all Republicans. One of the surgeons responded, Today, Mr. President, were all Republicans. After spending 12 days in the hospital, Reagan was sent home on April 11, 1981. What Happened to John Hinckley? Immediately after Hinckley fired the six bullets at President Reagan, Secret Service agents, bystanders, and police officers all jumped on Hinckley. Hinckley was then quickly taken into custody. In 1982, Hinckley was put on trial for attempting to assassinate the President of the United States. Since the entire assassination attempt had been caught on film and Hinckley had been captured at the scene of the crime, Hinckleys guilt was obvious. Thus, Hinckleys lawyer tried using the insanity plea. It was true; Hinckley did have a long history of mental problems. Plus, for years, Hinckley had been obsessed with and stalked actress Jodie Foster. Based on Hinckleys warped view of the movie Taxi Driver, Hinckley hoped to rescue Foster by killing the President. This, Hinckley believed, would guarantee Fosters affection. On June 21, 1982, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on all 13 counts against him. After the trial, Hinckley was confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital. Recently, Hinckley has been awarded privileges which allow him to leave the hospital, for several days at a time, to visit his parents.