1.7 System Software

system software is software designed to run and maintain a computer system
1. What is an operating system?
  1. The main functions of an Operating system are:
    1. communicate with internal and external hardware via the device driver.
      1. Provide a user interface, allowing the user to interact with the computer and vice-versa
        provide a platform for different applications to run
        Allow the compuer to multi-task by controlling memory resources and the CPU
        Deal with file management and disk management
  2. The operating system is the software that manages the hardware on the computer. Examples Windows, Linux, Android, Apple OS X and IOS
  3. Operating system manages Hardware and run software
What is a GUI ( Graphical user interface)?
1. A GUI is a visual interface that operating systems use. They consists of icons, pointer and menus
What is Utility software
1. Utility software/tools add extra functions to an operating system and add the ability to carry technical tasks. Examples: Disk Management, Backups, Computer Analysing, Disk Compression and defragmentataion, Anti-virus
  1. A backup is a copy of a computer system's file and setting stored externally. This means data can be recovered in the event of data loss. Data loss can happen for may reasons there are theft, flood, malware, hardware failure and accidentally deleting the file yourself
  2. A backup utility is software with facilities such as scheduling of regular backups, creating rescue disks, disk images, and options for full or incremental backups:
    1. A full backup is where a copy is taken of every file on the system. They often use a lot of storage space. A full backup can take a long time to create, but is faster to restore them
    2. A incremental backup are where only the files created or edited since the last backup are copied. They use less storage space and are much quicker to create. But, a full system restore is slow- the last full backup must be restored, followed by every incremental backup since that point.
  3. The other types of utility are:
    1. Compression Software
      1. Compression software reduces the size of files so they take up less disk space. It's sued loads on the internet to make files quicker to download. Standard files formats include .zip and .rar. Compressed files need to be extracted before they can be used
    2. Encryption Software
      1. Encryption software scrambles(encrypts) data to stop third-parties from accessing it. Encrypted data can be decrypted using a special ' Key'
  4. Defragmentation
    1. files are stored on a hard disk in available spaces. ideally, entire files would be stored together, However, as files are moved, deleted and change size, lots of small gaps begin to appear on the disk. When writing files to the disk, to OS splits files into smaller blocks to fill up the gaps
    2. Over time, the disk becomes more and more fragmented. This akes reading and writing files lsower as the read/write head has to move back and fourth across the disk
    3. Defragmentation software reorganises data on the hard drive to put fragmented files back together. It also moves files to collect all the free space together. This helps to prevent further fragmentation.
    4. As SSDS use flash storage with no moving parts, fragmentation doesnt cause them any problems- they can access data just as quickly however it's arranged. In fact as SSDs have a limited number of read/writes, defragmenting them can actually shorten their lifespan
What is application software
1. Application software allows users to carry out useful such as writing reports, surfing the web or using email
2. Main types of application software:
  1. +Word processing
    1. + Desktop publishing
      1. + Spreadsheet
        +Database Management
        + Presentation/Slideshow
        +Photo-Editing/Graphics
        +Video Editing
        +Web Browsers
        +Gaming Software
Operating systems use device drivers software to communicate wiht internal hardware or peripherals connected to the computer system
1. 1)Every piece of hardware connected to the computer system requires a device driver. Drivers act as 'translator' for the signal between OS and hardware
2. 2) When a computer is booted u, the OS will choose the correct device drivers for the hardware it detects. If new hardware is connected to the computer, the computer will install new driver.
3. 3)Device manufacturers may release updates to device drivers in order to fix bugs, add features or improve the performance of their hardware. updates can be installed automatically by the OS or manually by the user.
The OS allows Multi-tasking by managing Resources
1. The OS handles File and Disk Management
  1. Computers store date as files. Images, music, videos and spreadsheets are all just collections of data. Files extensions (for example .jpg, .mp3, .mpeg) tells the computer which software should be used to open the file
    1. The OS is responsible for file management - the organisation of data into a usable hierarchical structure. It also deals with the movement, editing and deletion of data
      1. The OS manages the hard disk. It splits the physical disk into storage sectors, decides which would be placed in adjacent sectors, but this isn't always possible
        The OS also organises and maintains the hard disk with utility software like defragmentation software
2. operating systems provide a platform, to run applications (by configuring hardware so they can use it, and giving access to the CPU and memory).
  1. Operating systems that can run multiple applications at the same time are called multi-tasking OSs.
    1. The OS helps the CPU carry out multi-tasking by efficiently managing memory and CPU processing time

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1.7 System Software

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	Created by Jarran Phagura about 7 years ago