Compare the features and functions of different types of operating systems, Explain the purpose of operating systems. Extend your report to include a review of the features and functions of different operating systems – this must compare the respective strengths and weaknesses of the compared OS�...
Operating Systems
Task one
Explain the purpose of operating systems
An operating system is a computer software program that manages, controls and organizes the general
operations. In computer science this can also be known as “abstraction” because it virtualizes the CPU with
a graphical interface, allowing users and programmers to navigate the system easily, it removes the
complexity of hardware so that only the essential and relevant objects are seen. The main operating parts
it controls are Memory, CPU time, disk space and peripheral devices. The OS provides an easy to use and
customizable interface between the user and the computer, it controls the backing storage so it allows the
user to save files and can have many peripherals attached and managed easily, such as scanners, printers
and keyboards. The OS organizes the use of memory and processing time between programs and users. It
also manages the security of the system, the access rights of users and can deal with errors from user
interactions.
Machine and Peripheral management
The OS can sometimes recognize devices as soon as they are connected into the system (motherboard),
this is known as ‘plug and play’ where the OS automatically locates and installs the driver software. The
OS can display the list of devices that are connected to the computer and options to disconnect the
device to prevent corruption, such as a pen drive. It can also allocate how much time and usage each
program gets with the CPU, the more CPU the device or program uses the slower the OS gets. This is why
the OS tries to manage the CPU effectively for each device and peripheral to prevent it from crashing and
have more usage available when it is needed.
Security
The security of the operating system is always built into the software, even if it is very basic. One of them
is having a username and password setup, this means the user has their individual files, documents and
software set up so no other users can access. It can also have disk encryption which locks access to its
contents so other users cannot read the files or edit them. The OS also can have access rights to different
applications and programs so that it can stop unauthorized access and restrict its users from modifying or
accessing it altogether. It can also prevent access to system configuration, so that users cannot tamper
with important programs that can cause it to not function properly. This can be set by the owner of the
computer and only give access rights to technicians. For example, if there are a lot of computers in a school
the head technician can restrict the access of students to important computer files.
Every OS has basic firewall protection when accessing websites online. This means that when a user clicks
on a link or downloads something, the computer will automatically scan and detect if there are any harmful
viruses or Trojans in its files. This can also apply to networking, it can automatically detect if some-one is
sending an infected file that way.
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