Utility Disk and Disk Utility

Utility disk and disk utility are two different concepts. A disk utility is a piece of software that checks and repair disk media errors or perform a variety of disk administrations such as format, compression and cleanup. On the other hand, an utility disk is a physical disk or CD containing software utilities for different purposes. Many computer components require certain utility disks to run properly or to operate in optimized mode. A utility disk often provides product updates, hardware driver patches and compatibility bug fixes for various operating systems and software applications. Typical utility disks include Bios utility disk, motherboard utility disk, video adapter utility disk and input output device utility disk. Most computer components are sold with a utility disk. However, all contents in a utility disk can be downloaded from manufacturer's website in case the original disk got lost.

In order for a computer system to have the best performance, it is recommended to periodically check manufacturer's factory for updated utility disk. When you reinstall the operating system, it is also suggested to install the necessary utilities in the utility disk that came with the system.

Microsoft Disk Cleanup Utility

This disk utility comes with both home and professional versions of Windows XP. This disk utility is the most convenient one to use. Disk Cleanup Utility can easily determine which files on a hard drive may no longer be needed and delete those files. In addition to freeing up potentially significant amounts of hard drive space, using Disk Cleanup on a regular basis can significantly improve system performance. Here is how it works.

Click Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup, Click Start; or,

Run and in the Open box type "cleanmgr" and click OK; or,

In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.

Norton Disk Utility

Norton SystemWorks Utilities comes with a disk utility. This disk utility can diagnose and fix most hard disk drive problems. The utility will defragment, clean and repair the hard drive for optimized performance. The disk utility can also quickly and permanently removes unwanted Internet cookies, cache, and temporary files that slow down your PC. It will speed up your system by preventing the automatic loading of undesired software applications. Under Windows XP OS, the Norton disk utility searches hard disks for deleted files and recovers them to their original state. Very importantly, Norton disk utility is capable of safely and permanently removing sensitive files from your computer.