Utility programs - Answers
The tasks below are practical tasks. The teacher should be able to show pupils some of these on an interactive whiteboard and then let the pupils do them, although network restrictions will probably prevent all of them being done. What is perhaps more important is for pupils to know how to locate instructions on how to do these things for themselves on their home computer, firstly by identifying exactly what operating system they are running, and then whether it is a 32 or 64 bit operating system. Demonstrating how to go about this would be a useful exercise.
Q1. How to check if you are using the latest virus database in your anti-virus program.
Q2. How to download, install and run the free version of 'Ad-aware' or a similar program to detect spyware.
Q3. How to look at your Firewall settings, how to allow a particular program to get access to your computer by adding it to your Firewall and how to block a program using your Firewall.
Q4. How to format / re-format a DVD or pen drive. (NOTE: you will lose everything on the device when you re-format it so proceed with caution!)
Q5. How to run the defrag utility on your computer.
Q6. How to run the system information utility on your computer.
Q7. Locate and run your system clean-up tools.
Q8. Know how to turn your operating system's automatic updates on and off.