Type of software that
controls the computers
hardware. Provides an
interface between the
user of the computer
and the hardware.
Operating System
Basically a
system software.
Provides a virtual
machine.
Processor Management
The activity that has just been complete is similar to how
the processor has to divide its time between processes.
May allocate a small 'time slice' to each seperate process.
User Interface
Command Line Interface
Text Based, e.g. Dos
Graphical User Interface
Contains windows,
icons, menus. Visual.
E.g. Windows 10
Drivers
A piece of
software user to
control a piece of
hardware.
Utility Programs
Only designed to do
just one or two
tasks
Inbuilt into the Operating System
Anti-virus, disk
defragmentation,
file repair
Compression
Reducing the size of the file by
performing an algorithm on the
original data
Loessless
The original file cant be
created as no data is
lost.
Lossy
Some of the original data is
lost and the original file can
not be re-created.
Backup Types
Full
A copy of all
data/software on the
hard disk drive is copied
to a backup medium
Incremental
A full backup is
made initally. Much
faster than a full
backup. Takes
longer to restore.
Encryption Software
To scramble data in a way that is
unreadable to anybody who doesn't
have a key to be able to
unscramble this
Defragmentation Software
When a hard disk drive is
new, files get onto the disk in
order. When deleted they
leave gaps. When new files
are saved, they fill the gaps
and become fragmented.