systems software

OS

operating system

a complex piece of software coukd in most computer systems

communicate with internal and external hardware

provide a user interface

provide a platform for different applications to run

allows computer to multi task by controlling memory resources and cpu

deal with file management and disk management

manage the security of the system

device drivers

act as a translator to the signals between os and hardware

user interface

allows user to interact with a computer system

graphical user interface

most common type of user interface

wimp based - windows, icons, menus, pointers

visual and interactive for everyday users

command line interface

text based

user enters specific commands to complete tasks

less resource heavy

multitasking by os

application is opened

os moved necessary parts to memory

if applications or features havent been used recently they’ll be removed

memory manager allocated applications certain memory addresses to make sure the applications don’t overwrite it interfere with each other

only one application is processed by the cpu at a time - other processes wait

os divides time between open applications and prioritises certain processes to be executed in the most efficient order

file management

organisation of data into usable hierarchical structure

defragmentation

reorganising data on the hard drive to put fragmented files back together

also moved files to collect all the free spaces together

helps prevent further fragmentation

compression

reduces size of files by permanently or temporarily removing data from them

take up less disk space and are faster to download

encryption

software scrambled data to stop third parties from accessing it

intercepted or stolen data is still secur