1.5 System Software Flashcards
What’s an Operating System
A piece of software responsible for running the computer.
What does an Os manage?
Memory/multi-tasking, users, files, device drivers and provides a user interface
What’s memory management/ multi-tasking
The cpu processes one application at a time, the Os divides CPU time. Between the open applications
What’s user management
The Os is responsible for account control. This allows different users to be given access to specific data or resources on a computer system
What’s file management
Naming, moving, deleting and saving of files
What are device drivers?
Drivers act as a translator between the OS and the hardware
What’s a user interface?
Allows the user to interact with a computer system
What is utility software? + examples
System software that helps to maintain a computer for normal use
Encryption, defragmentation, compression
What’s encryption
Encryption software scrambles data, if it’s intercepted or stolen then it is unreadable and still secure
What’s defragmentation
Files are stored on a hard disk in available spaces, over time the the disk become defragmented. Defragmentation software reorganises the data to put complete files back together and therefore make fetching files from memory faster
What’s compression
Reduces the size of files so that they take up less disk space and are quicker to download
