Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Essential Utilities for Laptop Users.........................................................
In This Chapter
Undeleting files that went oopsy-daisy into the Recycle Bin
Putting fragmented files back together
Scanning your machine for hidden corruption, malfeasance, and disruption
Repairing a fuzzy photo
Fixing an imperfect audio file
I
n baseball, a utility infielder is a generalist, a player who can take any posi-
tion on the basepaths: first, second, short, or third. That’s a valuable skill,
because a manager never knows when a regular position player is going to pull
up lame or otherwise leave the game. In personal computing, a utility program
is just the opposite: a specialist that can do only thing but does it very well.On my laptop team roster, I need both generalists and specialists. You proba-
bly already have your own copies of the all-around players: Windows XP,
Microsoft Office Suite, and depending on the sort of work you do, Adobe
Photoshop or another graphics program. These products are all Swiss Army
Knife products: jam-packed with more features than you are ever likely to
use. Some people find that kind of comforting, while others are overwhelmed
at the sheer number of bells, whistles, and adjustments that can be made to a
basic word processor, spreadsheet, or Internet browser.Starting at the Beginning.............................................................................
When Microsoft introduced DOS (the Disk Operating System that made it
possible to instruct the PC to load a program, format a disk, and display a
directory, along with a few dozen other essential basic tasks) there were
more than a few holes in the infield. Principal among them were solutions
to problems that not many early computer users realized they had:A need to “undelete” a file that had accidentally been deleted.
A need to defragment a hard drive that had become hopelessly chopped
up (in an electromagnetic sort of way).