1.5 system software

define system software

software that manages the comp, usually supplied with the comp

define operating system

specialised software that communicates with the computer harware to allow other programs to run

function of OS

provides a platform on which users can run programs

mention 5 purposes of the operating system-DUMP-FUM

device drivers, user management, multitasking, peripheral management, file management, user interface, memory management

what does the user interface do

allows a user to interact with a computer

what are the features of a user interface

grafical user interface, command line, menu, natural language

mention 3 feautures of GUI

WIMP-windows, icons, menus, pointers
optimised fro mouse and touch gesture input
visual
interactive

3 features of a command line

- text based
- less resource heavy compared to GUI
- more commands than GUI

3 feature of menu

- successive menus presented to user
- single options chosen at each stage
- often with buttons and keypads

3 features of natural language

- responds to questions in spoken langauge
- not always reliable
- getting better
siri, alexa, cortana..

define memory management

the process of the operating system deciding what should be in memory at any given time

what happends when the memory is full

the operating syetem uses virtual memory

define multitasking

running multiple applications at the same time by giving each application a small time-slice of processor time

what is peripheral management

this is the management of connected input and output devices such as mouse, keyboards, webcams...

explain what device driver do

they transelate operating system commands into hardware specific commands that the hardware will understand(many device drivers are already built in)

what does user management do

it allows for different people to log into the smae comp w/ a username and password and remembers personal settings, each user may have different file access settings

what is file management

includes access permission for files, opening files, moving , deleting and renaming files and allocating files to folders

what is utility software

computers come with this and it performs housekeeping tasks

what is encrytption software

this turns plain text into unreadable ciphertext using a key, prevents data from being read by hackers

what is defragmentation software

this puts fragments and free space together, improves speed by reducing red-write movement across the surface of the disk

what application does not benefit from defragmentation

solid state drive becuase it has no moving parts so this would reduce lifespan

what is data compression

this reduces a file size which makes it faster to download