We live in an age of technology. It is true. The world has progressed in leaps and bounds since the first computer was made. Today, we have all sorts of technology available to us, including mobile phones (which were only a dream 30 years ago) and laptop computers; computers that you could carry around. In the 1970s, this was something you would see only in science fiction movies like Terminator.
Along with progress of the world’s hardware, more and more software is becoming available for people. In fact, with the advent of the Internet to connect the planet via personal computers and devices, looking for a computer software downloadhas become a far easier task than going to a store to buy an installation DVD.
Crime in a Virtual World
There are so many types of software available now that one doesn’t know what to choose when looking at a site that offers over a million different brands and models of software. However, one negative factor has quickly seeped into the internet. Cybercrime is just as prolific as crime in the streets back in the good old days. People are constantly coming up with new, better ways to take your information from you without your knowledge.
This has become increasingly easy with the amount of personal information that people store on their computers and mobile devices. For example, over 10 different websites probably use your credit card details which you have voluntarily provided for shopping online. There are certain forms of software that will maliciously rob your bank details and use them to do things you simply wouldn’t do.
PC Police Join the Fight
Of course, to fight this, companies have developed other types of software. Antiviruses and Internet Security software are a must have on every PC. You may think that you are safe because you don’t download or install anything on your computer, but no one is ever truly safe. Not from the bane that is the computer virus.
These software could sneak their way onto your computer via advertisements(that you may accidentally click on) that tend to pop up as you browse your way through the vast world of the internet. You can stop all these by purchasing an antivirus, which will scan your PC, detect threats and eliminate the malicious software (malware) which could otherwise delete important files and steal your security information without a second thought. The internet is so beautiful a place that you can actually get some of these antivirus programs for free from the companies that build them.It should be noted that these free versions are usually not much use against the more aggressive viruses.
Daydream for Students and Businesses
In addition to the darker world of cybercriminals and the programs that can be used to fight them, there is also the software for the businessman and student. Back in the day, doing a high school assignment meant writing out pages and pages of content laboriously with a pen. This led to a very messy result indeed, because there was so much that could go wrong in the way of errors, rewrites and the crossing out of sentences. All of this could be solved by using a word processor on a computer in the present age.
Sites like Google Docs are the perfect free alternative to paid office packages such as Microsoft Office (one of the most famous office software packages in the world). With software like the word processor and the spreadsheet, a business could effectively run its entire accounts department with half the people it had to in the old days of ledgers and paper inventory. This also helps to cut costs of things like stationery and employee salaries.
The Games People Play
One of the most popular forms of software that every teenager (and an alarming percentage of fully grown adults) knows about is the video game. This software has fast become more popular than their business counterparts, cornering a huge percentage of the market. Gaming in the old days meant going outside and playing things like catch.
Now with video games on the rise, over 3 billion people play some form of computer game. Whether it is Microsoft, EA, or Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, there is always some way in which people play games.
Indeed, this is but a fraction of the software types the world has right now, and it is always growing. Maybe one day there will be software that allows for changes in our own moods. Who knows? It’s a brave new world out there, and there are two paths down which humanity could go, the dark and the light sides. *insert Star Wars reference here*