Operating Systems

• Operating Systems: designed to establish communication between the user and the computer
• Functions of a typical operating system

  • managing files
  • handling interrupts
  • providing an interface
  • managing peripherals and drivers
  • managing memory
  • managing multitasking
  • providing a platform for running applications
  • providing system security
  • managing user accounts
• Running of Applications

  • The computer starts its OS (booting up the computer) through the bootstrap loader.
  • The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) tells the computer the location of the OS in the storage.
  • BIOS is often referred to as the firmware
• Memory Management - Manages the RAM and the HDD/SSD during the execution of programs
• Security Management - Providing security features such as Anti-Virus, System updates and so on
• Hardware Peripheral Management - Managing the device drives, Inputs, Outputs, Queues and buffers
• File Management - Opening, Creating, Deleting, Renaming, and many more functions
• Multitasking - OS would share the hardware resources with each of the processes
• Management of User Accounts - OS would allow multiple users to customise their accounts individually.