utilities: part of an operating system & designed to carry out specific tasks

anti-virus software: software that quarantines and deletes files/ programs infected by a virus

defragmentation: rearranging blocks of data on an HDD so they are contiguous 

back-up: makes copies of a files on another storage device just in case

screensavers: supply images on a monitor if a computer has been inactive for a period of time

device driver: communicates with operating system and translates data into a format understood by device

operating system: software that provides an environment in which applications can run & provides interface between computer and humans

CLI: allows communication with computer by typing in commands

GUI: uses icons to represent apps

hardware management: controls all input & output devices and is made up of sub-systems

buffers: memory area used to stored data temporarily

multitasking: process more than one task at a time

interrupt: signal sent from a device to a microprocessor requesting attention & all operations suspend until interrupt is serviced

high-level language: independent of computer hardware

low-level language: dependent on computer hardware

compilers: translate entire program from HLL to machine code in 1 go

interpreter: translates & executes HLL statement line-by-line

assembler: translates assembly language to machine code

IDE: programs used to write & test program in HLL