Systems software * Flashcards
What is the role of system software?
a set of instructions that computers use to carry out tasks
What is the operating system?
a piece of software that is used for controlling hardware
What are the different types of OS?
eg. windows
mac OS X
linux
windows
android
iOS
chromebook
What does each letter in F.R.U.I.T.S stand for?
What do they do?
File management - assigns and receives files and renames files
Resource management - decides how much time and space each resource gets
User interface - how a user interacts with a system
Input/output control - allows devices to be connected to the computer
Task management - manages which tasks are carried out and allows tasks to be carried out at the same time
Security - creates users, manages users, allows access to user areas and protects from threat
Why is file management necessary?
to save the user time looking for files and to help the computer find specific files easier
Give two examples of input devices
keyboard
microphone
Give two examples of output devices
speakers
monitor
What is utility software?
used to carry out maintenance tasks on a system
What are the 6 types of utility software and what do they do?
encryption - protects files, turns plain text to cipher text and cipher text to plain text
disk clean-up - finds and removes unnecessary files, helps free up storage space
defragmentation - optimises hard drive, files are rearranged, speeds up access
data compression - used when sending a file, reduces total size of a file so its sent/received faster
back up - creates copies of files, completes full back ups, completes incremental back ups, should be to a different device
anti-virus
What is fragmentation?
some files on the system can be moved or deleted, leaving gaps in the hard drive
What is lossy data compression?
unimportant data is removed
What is lossless data compression?
all the data is kept
