Software maintenance

Some maintenance of hardware can be done using software (such as disk cleanup and defragmentation), but maintenance also includes looking after the software and not just the hardware. The problem with software is that it is only as up-to-date as it was on the day you installed it. Software, such as virus protection, relies on data that is up-to-date, so updating this software is essential. Some software is released for sale before it has been tested enough to find all the bugs that are caused by errors, made by the programmers. When these bugs are found, and the fault, the solution would be to use a patch which can be downloaded of the manufacterers' webiste. A patch is usually made avaliable as a replacement. Another way of keeping your software and hardware up-to-date and keep your computer running as quick as possible is by using defragmentation. When the computer is running slower, it could be because there is too much memory taken up because of loads of files, and many of them may be unused. If this is the case, you could use a Disk cleanup, which scans a drive and presents it with a list of files you might like to delete. It picks the files from the ones that are most unused. Once a Disk cleanup is used you can then carry out a disk defragmentation. This rearranges the files so that the gaps are used up systematically, leaving more avaliable space. it is advisable to carry out a Disk cleanup and a disk defragmentation because it will help keep the computer running quicker and keeps the space in the drives avaliable for more things you need to save. It doesn't waste the space avaliable, it uses it more effectively.
(M3)The effect of all the activities is that it will improve your computers performance. This is because you are sorting through all the files etc on your computer, deleting files that are not being used, sorting the space and making it more effective to use. The effects of all this is that it will make your computer run more smoothly and quickly. This will benefit the user of the computer. Also the computer will/may have more space on the computer and the user of the computer can use this to store more files that are needed instead of having files that are not being used.