Software can be categorized many different ways. One way is to divide all programs into a few broad categories: system software, application software, utility software, and malicious software.
System software includes all the programs necessary to run a computer. Chief among these programs is the operating system itself, the most important software running on a computer. The operating system runs all the other programs. Without the operating system, the computer is useless.
Also included under system software are programs necessary for particular pieces of hardware. When you purchase a printer, for example, it often comes with a CD of software, which must be installed for the printer to function.
Application software provides specific services to the user, such as programs for word processing, e-mail, computer games, financial management, spreadsheets, and image manipulation.
A word processor allows a user to create, edit, and format textual documents. Early word processors were very crude—"cut" and "paste" were once new ideas—but even then these programs were often what sold people on computers. Word processors today are so advanced that they have more features than professional magazine layout programs had a few years ago.
E-mail clients allow the user to receive electronic messages, compose and send messages, and organize messages in folders. A client is a program that interacts with a central computer called a server. E-mail programs are called clients because they retrieve and send mail through servers.
Computer game software allows a user to play a game on a computer. These games can run from very simple ("Solitaire") to incredibly complex ("Deus Ex: Invisible War"). Many computer games now have development budgets like that of a Hollywood film. Financial software tracks a user's financial accounts or prepares finance-related paperwork, such as tax forms. Examples in this category are Intuit's Quicken, Microsoft's Money, and Kiplinger's TaxCut.
Spreadsheet software provides a matrix of cells, in which each cell can be a number, a line of text, or a calculation involving the values in other cells. The power of a spreadsheet lies in being able to change a single value and have all the related results recalculate automatically. For example, if you create a spreadsheet that shows how much money you will have in five, ten, and fifteen years based on your current income, expenses, and return on your investments, you can change any of the input values and instantly see the results on your future earnings.
Spreadsheet programs were among the first popular applications on computers. The idea of laying out calculations into cells like this had been used, on paper, for years, but of course performing the calculations by hand was tedious. A computer spreadsheet saves all that tedious work.
Image manipulation was once reserved for photography professionals. But as digital photography has grown more popular and easier to use, even amateur shutterbugs want to modify their photographs and other images. The king of image manipulation software is Adobe's Photoshop. In fact, the word "photoshop" has become a verb meaning "manipulate the image" in the same way that "Xerox" has come to mean "copy."
Utility software enhances a user's computer experience. Examples of utilities are virus scanners, programs that clean unneeded files off the hard drive, screen savers, and so on. One might describe these programs as extensions of system software—features the user wished were part of the operating system but aren't. In fact, many operating system features start off as utilities.
Malware, a contraction of the words "malicious software," is a new term, but it is convenient and growing in use. Malware includes all programs that users don't want on their systems. Such software includes viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware.
A computer virus is a short piece of programming code that attaches itself to a legitimate program and attempts to replicate by copying itself to other programs. For example, if a virus attaches itself to your word processor every time you run it, the virus will execute first. Some viruses do nothing but replicate or display joke messages at certain times, but more malevolent viruses erase files on the hard drive. Even a virus that only replicates, however, can seriously damage the performance of a computer or prevent its proper function.
A worm is a type of virus that spreads not only to other programs on the computer it has infected, but also across network links. For example, some worms find the e-mail program on a computer and then e-mail themselves to every entry in the address book.
A Trojan horse is a program that masquerades as a legitimate piece of software but has a sinister ulterior function. For example, a program on a Web site may be advertised as a game. It will even run as a game, but when it runs, it signals back to the program's developer, who can then use the program to surreptitiously pilfer files from the user's computer.
Spyware is hidden software that tracks user activity and reports back to the program's developer. The most common type of spyware is used by advertisers to track Web sites a user visits so that tailored advertising can be later sent to the user. Spyware is often introduced to a computer system through a Trojan horse.
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02122011
1. Common output devices of a personal computer
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