Section 5: Operating systems

Question 1

what is an operating system?

Answer 1

helps to manage the resources of a computer system
provides the interface between the user and computer’s hardware

Question 2

what is memory management and multitasking

Answer 2

all programs must be temporarily stored in RAM for the CPU to be able to process them

Question 3

what is user management?

Answer 3

the OS allows users to create, manage and delete individual accounts
user accounts can be granted different access rights

Question 4

what is file managment?

Answer 4

the operating system creates and maintains a logical management system to organise files
allows files to be renamed, edited

Question 5

what is user interface?

Answer 5

allows the human to interact with the computer system

Question 6

what is utility software?

Answer 6

dedicated programs used for the maintenance and organisation of a computer system

Question 7

how does fragmentation occur?

Answer 7

when there is limited contiguous space in which to store a file

Question 8

how does defragmentation work?

Answer 8

empty spaces are collected together on the hard drive disk and file fragments are moved to be stored together, so file fragments can be read consecutively

Question 9

3 examples of utility software?

Answer 9

firewall
compression
encryption