Systems Software (P1)

Operating system

Component that manages the hardware in a computer and provides an environment for applications to run.

• Controls different aspects of the running of the computer or device.

Systems Software

Controls the hardware inside the computer and provides an interface for users to interact with it.

Application Software

The end-user programs that are designed to perform specific tasks, such as word processing or photo editing.

5 Main Functions Controlled by the Operating System (FUMPS)

1. User interface

2. Memory management and multi-tasking

3. Peripheral management and drivers

4. User management

5. File management

User interface

Allows user to interact with the system.

Memory management and multi-tasking

Used to control the use of the RAM and to share processor time between different programs and processes.

→ Several programs running at the same time is known as multi-tasking

Peripheral management and drivers

Used to control peripheral devices using drivers.

→ Drivers act as a translator to allow the CPU and the devices to communicate correctly

User management

Used to control who can access the computer and what resource they can use by granted different access rights, such as admin or guest.

File management

Used to allow users to organise their work into folders and subfolders.

• Files can be named, renamed, opened, copied, moved, saved, searched for, sorted and deleted

• Allows users to set access rights for specific files

Utility software

A collection of programs each of which does a specific housekeeping task to help maintain a computer system.

• Maintains a computer system

• Helps the computer system run efficiently

• Identifies problems with a computer system

Types of Utility Software

1. Encryption software

2. Defragmentation

3. Data compression software

Encryption software

Used to encode data so that it cannot be understood if it is intercepted by unauthorised users.

• Uses an algorithm and key to transform the plaintext into cipher text — the same software and key are need to decrypt the data.

Defragmentation

• Over time, data on a hard disk becomes fragmented — parts of a file are saved to different areas of the disk where there is free space.

  1. New files are saved onto the system where there is space.

  2. Once used, they are deleted.

  3. New, other files are created and may be bigger than the spaces left by the deleted files.

  4. The new files are split up.

  → This slows down the computer as more disk accesses are needed to read all of a file.

Defragmentation software solves this issue by reorganising the files in a hard disk, putting all of the free space together and all of the parts of the same file together.

Data compression

Uses algorithms to reduce the size of files so that they take up less storage space. The two types of compression are lossy and lossless.