1.5 System software Flashcards
1
Q
Purpose of an operating system?
A
manages hardware and run software
1
Q
Main functions of OS
A
- communicate with internal and external hardware
- provides user interfaces allowing users to interact with the computer
- provide a platform for different applications to run
- allow the computer to multitask by controlling memory resources and the CPU
- deal with file/disk management
- manage security of system
2
Q
What is a Device driver?
A
Allow the operating system to communicate with internal hardware or peripherals connected to the computer system
3
Q
What is an userface?
A
Allows the user to interact with a computer system
4
Q
What are the 4 user interfaces
A
- GUI (graphical user interfaces)
- command line interface
- menu driven
- natural language
5
Q
How does the OS allow multi-tasking?
A
By efficiently managing memory and CPU processing time
6
Q
How does multi-tasking work?
A
to run multiple applications, a memory manager allocates certain applications to certain memory addresses to make sure they’re placed in separate locations
- makes sure the applications don’t overwrite or
interfere each other
7
Q
file management
A
- delete files
- rename files
- move files
- search files
- export files
8
Q
utility software
A
- file compression - reduce size of file
- encryption - secure the contents of files
- defragmentation - help organise and maintain
the hard disk by collecting all the free space
together
9
Q
defragmentation
A
reorganises data on the hard disk
