1.5 Operating Systems Flashcards
What is an operating system?
Software that runs in the background of a computer system and acts as an interface between the user and important applications.
List any 5 functions of an OS.
Human computer interface, memory management, multiprogramming, file management and real-time processing.
What are kernels?
Kernels are the control centre of the operating system that deals with hardware operations.
What are the types of interfaces provided by an OS?
Graphical User Interface and Command line interface
From the storage drive, where is the program copied to for execution?
Random Access memory (RAM).
What is a program counter?
Program counter is the register that contains the location of the instruction that is to be executed next.
What happens when a process currently in a running state is interrupted?
CPU switches the process to a runnable state.
What is segmentation?
Splitting memory and allocating it to processes is called segmentation.
What are pages?
The memory is split into equally-sized blocks called pages, which can be allocated to processes.
What is a protocol?
Protocol is the code that describes the way data is transferred between an external device and computer.
What is a buffer?
Buffer is a temporary memory area, which holds the data for the output hardware.
What is a utility?
Utility is a program that is installed in a system alongside the operating system to perform a limited range of functions.
List a few maintenance utilities.
Backup, disk cleaner, disk-defragmentation and formatting.
List a few security utilities.
User accounts, encryption, anti-virus software and firewall.
What are the types of back-up?
Full backup, Incremental backup and Differential backup.
