Performance of Operating Systems

• Operating System Factors


  • Slow boot-up times
  • Slow application & file loading
  • Crashing or freezing
• Hardware


  • Minimum hardware specification required for operating systems, especially for graphical user interface
  • Applications require processing power and memory assigned by operating system
  • Hard disk fragmentation affects loading times
• Malware


  • Corrupts data, affects network traffic, disables or takes over operating system functions
  • Can cause system to slow down significantly, crash, or require fresh reinstall
• Virtual Memory


  • Portion of hard disk used as backup to main memory
  • Less efficient than main memory, can cause "thrashing" and degrade performance
  • Pagefile too small can't support main memory effectively
• Utility Software


  Performs tasks to maintain computer system performance
• Disk Defragmenter


  1. Analyse hard disk

  2. Regroup data so related data is in same location

  3. Can take several hours to run if heavily fragmented

  4. Slowed down by running applications
• Backup


  1. Simplify and automate backup process

  2. Longer for more data, fragmented hard drive, viruses/malware

  3. Slower for cloud or external disk storage
• Disk/Registry Cleaner


  1. Identify and remove redundant data/registry entries

  2. Improve performance by reducing read/write times

  3. Longer for more to clean up, slowed by other running applications, impacted by fragmentation
• Software Updates


  1. Manage automatic software updates

  2. Rely on fast internet connection

  3. Longer if many updates to download
• Anti-Virus


  1. Detect and remove suspicious programs

  2. Scan newly added files and storage devices

  3. Longer for larger storage, more data, fragmentation

  4. Impacted by existing malware
• Firewalls


  • Monitor network traffic, block suspicious data
  • Can slow down other network activities
  • Malware may target to prevent effective operation