Software

Software is a general term for any non-physical component of a computing system. Essentially, software provides
instructions that tell the computer’s physical components (hardware) what to do and how to do it.
Two types of software
1.System software
2.Application software

System software:
System software manages and controls a computer's hardware and provides basic services to higher-level software. It
acts as an intermediary between the user and the computer hardware, allowing the user to interact with the hardware
and use various applications and programs.
Example: Operating system, Utility software, Device driver, Language translator

Application software:
Application software is a computer program that performs specific functions that often range from personal and
educational to business functions.

Operating system:
What is an operating system?
An operating system (OS) is software designed to allow a user to control the hardware and software in a computer. An
operating system hides the complexities of the hardware from the user, for example:
A user does not need to know 'where' on secondary storage data is kept, just that it is saved for when they want it
again.
An operating systems main functions can be divided in to five key areas:

User interface
File management
Process & memory management
Peripheral management
User management

User Interface
What is a user interface?
A user interface is how the user interacts with the operating system

Examples of user interfaces include:

Command Line Interface (CLI)
Graphical User Interface (GUI)

What is a command line interface?

A Command Line Interface (CLI) requires users to interact with the operating system using text based commands
CLIs are more commonly used by advanced users
Examples of CLIs are MSDOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) and Raspbian (for Raspberry Pi)

What is a graphical user interface?

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) requires users to interact with the operating system using visual elements such as
windows, icons, menus & pointers (WIMP)

GUIs are optimized for mouse and touch gesture input

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File Management
What is file management?
File management is a process carried out by the operating system creating, organising, manipulating and accessing
files and folders on a computer system

The OS manages where data is stored in both main memory and secondary storage

File management gives the user the ability to:

Create files/folders
Name files/folders
Rename files/folders
Copy files/folders
Move files/folders
Delete files/folders

The OS allows users to control who can access, modify and delete files/folders (permissions)
The OS provides a search facility to find specific files based on various criteria

What is process management?

Process management is a process carried out by the operating system dividing time (time slicing) in to small chunks
and allocating them to different processes
The CPU can only execute one process at a time, it can can execute billions of them in one second.

The OS uses a scheduling algorithm to prioritise processes

Processes are placed in queue whist waiting to be carried out, they return to the back of the queue when their time is
up
The goal of process management is to share resources (CPU & main memory)
What is memory management?
Memory management is a process carried out by the operating system allocating main memory (RAM) between
different programs that are open at the same time

The OS is responsible for copying programs and data from secondary to main memory as it is needed

Programs and data require different amounts of RAM to operate efficiently and the OS manages this process

RAM is allocated based on priority and fairness, for example, system applications (essential) may have a higher
priority than user applications

The OS uses a paging algorithm to dynamically manage the memory

The paging algorithm can adjust memory allocation as needed and swap processes between RAM and virtual memory
if needed

Memory management makes multitasking possible

Peripheral Management
What is peripheral management?

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Peripheral management is a process carried out by the operating system managing the way peripherals (hardware)
interact with software

The OS allocates system resources to peripherals to ensure efficient operation

Peripheral management makes plug-and-play (PnP) functionality possible, automatically detecting and configuring
new peripherals without the need for manually installing device drivers or power cycling the system

Utility Software
What is utility software?
• Utility software is a collection of tools designed to help maintain a computer system
• Utility software is designed to perform a limited number of tasks
• Utility software interacts with the computers hardware, for example, secondary storage devices
• Some utility software comes installed with the operating system
• Examples of utility software and their function are:
o File repair
o Backup
o Data compression
o Disk defragmentation
o Anti-malware
Backup
What is backup software?
Backup software is used to create copies of personal data in order to keep it safe in the event of:

Accidental loss

Data theft

Backups can be automated and scheduled to happen at less busy periods of the day, to not take up valuable system
resources (e.g. overnight etc.)

Backups can be made in two ways:

Full - all files are backed up (saftest, slow)
Incremental - only files that have been added/modified since the last backup are backed up (faster, less secure)
Backups can be stored locally (secondary storage) or remotely (cloud)
Backup software can be purchased or come as a standalone application bundled with an operating system

Disk Defragmentation
What is disk defragmentation software?
Disk defragmentation software groups fragmented files back together in order to improve access speed
As programs and data are added to a new hard disk drive, it is added in order, over time as files are deleted this leaves
gaps
As programs and data are added over time, these gaps get filled and data becomes fragmented
Defragmentation can only be used on magnetic storage

Anti-Malware
What is anti-malware software?
Anti-malware software is a term used to describe a combination of different software to prevent computers from being
susceptible to viruses and other malicious software

The different software anti-malware includes are

Anti-virus
Anti-spam
Anti-spyware

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How does anti-malware work?
Anti-malware scans through email attachments, websites and downloaded files to search for issues

Two ways anti malware can approach the task are:

Use a list of known unique malware fingerprints (signatures) to block immediately if they try to access your device in
any way

Monitor the behaviour of programs to identify suspicious activities that might indicate malware such as;

Rapid deletion/modification of files

Attempts to access sensitive data/resources

Communicating with known malicious servers

Anti-malware will also perform checks for updates to ensure the database of signatures is up to date