4.6 Fundamentals of Computer Systems (System Software)

Question 1

What is meant by the Utility Software

Answer 1

Software used for completing “housekeeping tasks” which improve system performance and aids with the maintenance of the computer system.

Question 2

What is the Compression Utility

Answer 2

• Software that compresses files so that they take up less space and use less system resources
• Making the computer system more memory and storage efficient,
• Also speeding up file transfer as file take up less bandwidth.

Question 3

What is the Defragmentation Utility

Answer 3

Software that sequentially orders the Disk Drive. It does this by removing both fragmented files and empty space into a temporary “scratch” space, then files are restored into the disk drive in a contiguous manner.

Question 4

What is the Anti-Malware Utility

Answer 4

• Software that is used to protect the computer system from malicious code
• by blocking and detecting threats. For viruses, the software uses a dictionary of known viruses to identify the virus and then the file, containing the virus, is quarantined to prevent the spread of the file.

Question 5

What is the Backup Utility and what are the 2 types

Answer 5

Software that automates the backups of a computer system so files can be discovered, if lost.
1 - Full Backup
2 - Incremental Backup

Question 6

What is meant by a Full Backup

Answer 6

A backup up where anything that is deemed important is copied.

Question 7

What is meant by an Incremental Backup

Answer 7

A Backup where only files that have been changed since the last backup is copied.

Question 8

What is the role and the function of the Operating System

Answer 8

The Operating System is used to:

• Manage the computer system, its resources, hardware.
• Hide the complexities of the computer system hardware, by abstraction, thus creating a virtual machine
• Provides a platform for other software to run on

Question 9

What does the OS manage

Answer 9

Resources:
1- Files
2- Applications

Competing Processes
3- Processor
4- Memory
5- I/O Devices

Question 10

What are translators

Answer 10

Software used to convert programs from
one language to another, often from source to machine code.

Question 11

What are Libraries

Answer 11

collections of prewritten instructions that can be repurposed for use in other programs. This is helpful as common tasks can be written as libraries for repeated use, which can save time for developers, as it saves them from having to rewrite the instructions.