OS Features

Question 1

What do OS’ do? What do they control?

Answer 1

They act as an intemediary between the hardware and software.
They control sofwtare resources, memory allocation and all peripheral devices and common services to computer apps.

Question 2

What does multi-user mean?

Answer 2

This means that an OS has multiple registered users. They have thier own individual accounts allowing them to work with peripheral devices and programs at the same time.

Question 3

What does multitasking mean?

Answer 3

The computer is capable of operating multiple applciations at once.

Question 4

What does multiprocessing mean?

Answer 4

The OS is capable of supporting more than one CPU.

Question 5

What does multithreading mean?

Answer 5

A program can be broken into smaller parts that are loaded as needed by the operating system. Multithreading allows different parts of a program to be run at the same time.

Question 6

What are the basic fucntions of an OS?

Answer 6

Hardware Access.
File and folder management.
User interface.
Application management.

Question 7

What decides the selection of an OS?

Answer 7

The type of applications used and the purpose of the OS.
Off the shelf appsshould be sued with a compatible OS.
Custom apps should refer to the programmer specifically.

Question 8

What are some factors that affect hardware compatability with an OS?

Answer 8

Processor Speed
RAM capacity
Storage Capacity
Graphics Card
Display proportions
Internet Connection.

OS’ typically have requirements for al of these factors.

Question 9

What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit OS’?

Answer 9

The amount of data a computers processor can manage.
A 32-bit register can store 2^32 different binary values. A 64-bit register can store 2^64 different binary values.
32-bit supports a maximum of 4GB of memory.
64-bit is also backwards compatible with 32-bit.

Question 10

Can a 32-bit OS be upgraded to a 64-bit one?

Answer 10

No.

That would require a fresh installation.

Question 11

Which Windows OS’ can be upgraded to Windows 10? Which can’t?

Answer 11

Windows 7/8.

Windos XP/Vista.

Question 12

What are your options for data migration?

Answer 12

User State Migration Tool (USMT)
Windows Easy Transfer.
PCmover Express.

Question 13

What is USMT?

Answer 13

It is a command line utility method used for transferring files and settings between Windows PCs.

Question 14

What circumstances may require the clean installation of an OS?

Answer 14

When a computer is passed from one employee to another.
When the OS is corrupt.
When the primary hard drive is replaced in a computer.

Question 15

What are the two most popular partition scheme standards?

Answer 15

Master Boot Record (MBR) and Global Unique Indentifier (GUI) partition table (GPT).

Question 16

What is teh MBR scheme?

Answer 16

Publicly introduced in 1983, the MBR contains information on how the hard drive partitions are organized.
The MBR is 512 bytes long and contains the boot loader, an executable program that allows a user to choose from multiple operating systems.
MBR has become the de facto standard but has limitations that had to be addressed. MBR is commonly used in computers with BIOS-based firmware.

Question 17

What is the GPT scheme?

Answer 17

Also designed as a partition table scheme standard for hard drives, the GPT makes use of a number of modern techniques to expand on the older MBR partitioning scheme.
GPT is commonly used in computers with UEFI firmware. Most modern operating systems now support GPT.

Question 18

What is a primary partition?

Answer 18

The partition that contains the OS files. On GPT partitions, all are primary partitons, on MBR only one is a primary partition.

Question 19

What is a active partition?

Answer 19

On MBR disks it is used to store and boot the OS. Only Primary partitions can be marked as active.
There can only be one per disk.

Question 20

What is a extended partition?

Answer 20

If more than 4 parts are required on an MBR disk then it can be extended through this.
Up to 23 logical drives/parts can be created from this extended partition.
There can only be one per HDD.

Question 21

What is a basic disk?

Answer 21

This disk contains primary and extended partiitons.

More space can be added to a part provided that it is being extended into an adjacent unnocupied and continguous space.

Question 22

What is a dynamic disk?

Answer 22

Dynamic disks create volumes that span across more than one disk.
The size of these parts can be changed freely after they have been set, even if the adjacent space is non-continguous.

Question 23

What is formatting?

Answer 23

This process cerates a file system on a partition for files to be stored on.