operating systems and utility software

An operating system (OS) is software that provides an interface between the user and the hardware in a computer system

The five main functions of an operating system are:

A user interface is how the user interacts with the operating system, such as a command line interface (CLI), graphical user interface (GUI), menu, or natural language interface (NLI).

A command line interface (CLI) requires users to interact with the operating system using text-based commands.

True. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are optimised for mouse and touch gesture input.

Memory management is a process carried out by the operating system allocating main memory (RAM) between different programs that are open at the same time.

Multitasking is a process made possible by the OS simultaneously managing system resources (memory, CPU, etc.) to give a user the perception of being able to use multiple programs at the same time.

Peripheral management is a process carried out by the operating system managing the way peripherals (hardware) interact with software.

A device driver is a piece of software used to control a piece of hardware, enabling the operating system to interact with and utilise the hardware.

True. Device drivers are regularly updated and are operating system-specific.

User management is a process carried out by the operating system enabling different users to log onto a computer, with the ability to maintain individual settings and access rights for each user.

File management is a process carried out by the operating system creating, organising, manipulating, and accessing files and folders on a computer system.

File management gives the user the ability to: files and folders, as well as control access permissions.

True. The operating system manages where data is stored in both primary and secondary storage.

Utility software is software designed to help maintain, enhance, and troubleshoot/repair a computer system.

Defragmentation software groups fragmented files back together in order to improve access speed.

False. Defragmentation can only be used on magnetic storage media like hard disk drives.

Compression software reduces the amount of secondary storage required by performing an algorithm on the original data.

Lossy compression physically removes data from the original file to reduce its size, but the original file cannot be re-created.

Encryption software scrambles data using an algorithm from plain-text into cipher-text to make it unreadable without the master key, enhancing the security of the computer system.

Task manager is utility software built into the operating system that allows users to monitor system resources in order to troubleshoot potential problems.

Task manager provides information such as:

True. Utility software interacts with the computer's hardware, such as secondary storage devices.

Lossless compression uses mathematics to order data more efficiently, reducing its size, but allowing the original files to be re-created as no data is lost.