Apple Macintosh Performa 5400 Series - Manual (Page 92)

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7
Installing or Reinstalling Your Software
System software is the set of programs and other files that your computer uses
to start itself up, keep track of your files, and run the application programs
you use. System software is kept in the System Folder. When you turn on your
computer, it looks for a startup disk, which is a disk that contains the system
software. The startup disk is usually the hard disk that’s inside your computer,
though another hard disk or a floppy disk can also be a startup disk.
When should you install or reinstall system software?
Your Macintosh came with all the necessary system software installed on its
internal hard disk, so you don’t need to install system software on that disk
unless you encounter software problems.
If you have a new hard disk or a newly initialized hard disk that doesn’t contain
system software, or if you want to upgrade to a more recent version of system
software on a hard disk, you’ll need to install system software. You can install
or reinstall system software by following the instructions in this chapter.
If your hard disk already has system software installed on it but there is a
problem with the disk or the software, you may see this icon in the middle of
the screen:
Consult this chapter if you have problems
with your computer that require you to
reinstall the computer’s software.