Computer Systems: 2 – PC Software 02/11/15

Tasks 1, 2 & 3: Technical Document

Operating Systems
‘An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software
resources and provides common services for computer programs. The operating system is a
component of the system software in a computer system. Application programs usually require
an operating system to function.’(Wikipedia [1] 2015)

Basic functions of an operating system

Criteria: P2 Explain the purpose of operating systems

User Interface
A user interface is the system that allows the user to send commands to the hardware in way that the computer
understands and displays information in a way the user can understand. There are two main types of OS today.
The less common of which is a Command Line Interface or Command Language
Interpreter, both abbreviated as: CLI. The user enters commands in the form of
text and information is returned and displayed in text also. (Wikipedia [2] 2015)
The most common type of UI by far, is a
Graphical User Interface (GUI) this allows users
to interact with graphical elements and visual
indicators, by clicking a window for instance, the
computer understands that the user wants to
see that window and will bring it to the front.

Resource Management
This is the most important function of the Operating System.
‘Managing the hardware and software resources, is very important, as various programs and input methods
compete for the attention of the central processing unit (CPU) and demand memory, storage and input/output
(I/O) bandwidth for their own purposes. In this capacity, the operating system plays the role of the good parent,
making sure that each application gets the necessary resources while playing nicely with all the other
applications, as well as husbanding the limited capacity of the system to the greatest good of all the users and
applications.’(Howstuffworks, 2015)
The process an operating system uses to manage computer resources is as follows; let’s say that the user
makes a program full screen, the Application makes a system call to the OS telling it that it’s been made full
screen and needs more system resources. The OS then allocates more memory to the program and will make it
top priority so it can use the most CPU resources.

Security
Modern Operating systems come with inbuilt security features,
for example Windows desktop operating systems after and
including Windows 8 incorporate an inbuilt firewall and basic
antivirus security called ‘Windows Defender’ and user accounts
which require sign in. Personal files and programs cannot be
accessed unless a password is entered or by other users unless
they are given permission. This keeps files and applications secure even when there are multiple users.
Firewalls are an integral part of any network setup, Windows firewall, unlike the firewall in a router, controls what

1
Computer Systems: 2 – PC Software 02/11/15
Tasks 1, 2 & 3: Technical Document

data packets can be sent to and from the computer by recognising useful data traffic from unwanted data traffic,
without it all data could be allowed on and off the system.
Windows defender is responsible for keeping the OS safe from unwanted changes and viruses. The reason why
it is not a full anti-malware security program is because of the popularity of third-party antivirus programs such
as AVG and Avast.

File Management
Windows categorises files into:
● Windows (The OS)
● Program files (Which contain the install programs and their data)
● AppData (Which contains files used by applications)
● Personal libraries (Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos)
● Downloads (Contains files downloaded from the internet)
● Recycle bin (Contains files removed from their original location but data not yet marked for deletion.

Drivers
A driver acts as a translator between the high-level programming that the OS and programs use and the
electrical signals from the hardware. Drivers allow a range of hardware to be used on any one operating system
for example and visa-versa without the developers of both having to collaboratively program for every possible
combination.

Portable media support

Windows includes a Portable devices platform called Windows Portable Devices or WPD and ‘is a driver
technology that supports many portable devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, and portable media
players.’(Microsoft, 2015)
The Windows Portable Devices driver allows for Media Transfer Protocol over USB, IP, and Bluetooth.

Utilities
Essential utility software is provided with the OS. The important tools include but are not limited to; the Task
Manager which users can use to see running programs and to see available system resources, Performance
Diagnostic which can indicate if a component is faulty or is not working correctly, Disk clean-up which remove
temporary files in order to increase free disk space and Disk defragmenter which consolidates files to increase
disk read/write speed.

Software Utilities
Criteria: P3 Explain the purpose of different software utilities
Antivirus
Antivirus software primarily detects and destroys malware. It does this
by scanning files that are downloaded from the internet, performing
periodic scans on the system or full, in depth scans of the entire drive.
Other functions may include scanning e-mails, Intrusion detection,
Threat identification, Fraud detection that alerts the user if someone is
trying to access their computer or the user has inadvertently accessed
a fake website.

2
Computer Systems: 2 – PC Software 02/11/15
Tasks 1, 2 & 3: Technical Document

Disk defragmenter
Imagine a hard-drive as a big bookshelf, files on your computer are file boxes on that
shelf. When files are written to the drive, they are placed next to each other starting from
one end of the shelf. When files are removed they leave a space on the shelf which may
be filled by some other files at a later date, but they will probably not be the right size to fit
the gap, if the gap is not big enough then the drive might split the file or keep going along
the shelf until it finds a space.
After a while, the bookshelf is covered in gaps with bits
of files here and there which takes it a long time to read
and write files. The defragmentation software finds all
the pieces of a file and puts them all together, then it
moves the all files along the shelf to fill spaces. Now the drive can access and
write files quickly again.

The defragmentation software can be run manually or set to periodically scan

and defragment the drive in the background.

Drive formatting
Drive formatting is used when the drives are set up, partitions may be
created so that the OS can be separated from other storage for example.
Partitioning a drive can increase reliability if the data becomes corrupt.
Drive formatting can also be used to set up a RAID configuration. In RAID
1, data is written to both drives so in the event of a drive failure, all the
computers data is safe. In RAID 0, data is split across the two drives and
allows data to be written at a faster rate but at the cost of reliability
because if one drive fails, all the data may be irretrievable.

Operating system comparison

M1 Compare the features of different operating systems

Features Windows 10 Ubuntu

User Interface Windows 10 uses a Graphical User Primarily uses a Graphical User
Interface (GUI) but also has a Interface but utilises a CLI more
program called ‘Command prompt’ than Windows 10.
for users who wish to use a
Command Line Interface.
Security Comes with an inbuilt firewall and All user accounts are automatically
basic antivirus security called set at a low permission level and
‘Windows Defender’. A wide variety can gain permissions to perform
of Antivirus software is available. administrative tasks. It claims that
no Antivirus software is required
because of this excellent
permissions system.
Drivers Windows 10 comes with the most Ubuntu does not come with any
commonly used drivers and may pre-installed drivers, these will have
automatically install necessary ones. to be installed manually depending
on the hardware.
3
Computer Systems: 2 – PC Software 02/11/15
Tasks 1, 2 & 3: Technical Document

Utilities Comes with a free trail of antivirus Come with only the essential utility
and has support to download tools. More are available to
accessibility and language packs. download.
Cost Comes as a free update to users of Is Open source software so there is
windows 7, 8 and 8.1. not cost.