Quiz 6 - Operating Systems and Utility Programs

Quiz 6 - Operating Systems and Utility Programs

1.Define system software and identify the two types of system software.
System software is computer software designed to operate the computer hardware and to provide a platform for running  application software.




Two basic types of system software are:
An operating system is software, consisting of programs and data, that runs on computers, manages computer hardware resources, and provides common services for execution of various application software. in a computer system. Without an operating system, a user cannot run an application program on their computer, unless the application program is self booting. The operating system is the most important type of system software


Utility software is a kind of system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called a utility or tool.
Utility software should be contrasted with application software, which allows users to do things like creating text documents, playing games, listening to music or surfing the web. Rather than providing these kinds of user-oriented or output-oriented functionality, utility software usually focuses on how the computer infrastructure (including the computer hardware, operating software, application software and data storage) operates. Due to this focus, utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level of computer knowledge.


2.Briefly describe various server operating systems: Windows Server, UNIX,Linux, Solaris, and NetWare.


Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX, sometimes also written as Unix) is a multitasking, multi-useroperating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs.
Unix was designed to be portable , multi-tasking and multi-users  in a time-sharing configuration. Unix systems are characterized by various concepts: the use of plain text for storing data; a hierarchical file system; treating devices and certain types of inter-process communication (IPC) as files; and the use of a large number of software tools, small programs that can be strung together through a command line interpreter using pipes, as opposed to using a single monolithic program that includes all of the same functionality. 
Under Unix, the "operating system" consists of many utilities along with the master control program, the kernel. The kernel provides services to start and stop programs, handles the file system and other common "low level" tasks that most programs share, and, perhaps most importantly, schedules access to hardware to avoid conflicts if two programs try to access the same resource or device simultaneously. To mediate such access, the kernel was given special rights on the system, leading to the division between user-space and kernel-space.


A Linux-based system is a modular unix-like operating system. It derives much of its basic design from principles established in Unix during the 1970s and 1980s. 


Solaris is a unix operating system. It superseded their earlier SunOs. n 1993. Oracle Solaris, as it is now known.

NetWare is a network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, with network protocols based on the archetypal Xerox Network Systems stack.

Windows Server is a brand name for a group of server operating systems released by Microsoft Corporation. All are part of Microsoft Servers. This brand includes the following software:

• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows HPC Server 2008, an edition designed exclusively for high-performance computing
• Windows Server 2008 R2, the current release of Windows Server 2008
• Windows Small Business Server, an operating system based on Windows Server with some integrated Microsoft Servers, for small businesses
• Windows Essential Business Server, a product similar to Small Business Server, but for medium-sized businesses
• Windows Home Server, a home server operating system for file sharing and streaming, automated backups, and remote access
• Windows Home Server 2011, a home server operating system designed for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO)
• Windows Multi-Point Server, a product allowing multiple simultaneous local users.

Summarize the features of several embedded operating systems: Windows Embedded CE, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, iPhone OS, Black Berry, Google Android, Embedded Linux, and Symbian OS.

Windows CE is optimized for devices that have minimal storage—a Windows CE kernel may run in under a megabyte of memory. Devices are often configured without disk storage, and may be configured as a “closed” system that does not allow for end-user extension (for instance, it can be burned into ROM). Windows CE conforms to the definition of a real-time operating system, with deterministic interrupt latency. From version 3 and onward, the system supports 256 priority levels and uses priority inheritance for dealing with priority inversion. The fundamental unit of execution is the thread. This helps to simplify the interface and improve execution time.

Most versions of Windows Mobile for Pocket PC have these standard features:

• Today screen shows the current date, owner information, upcoming appointments, e-mail messages, and tasks. (Home screen in later WM6.5 builds)
• The task bar shows the current time and the audio volume.
• Office Mobile, a suite of Mobile versions of Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook Mobile.
• Internet Explorer Mobile, an Internet browser developed by Microsoft for Pocket PC and Hand held PC that comes loaded by default with Windows Mobile and Windows CE for Hand held PC.
• Windows Media Player for Windows Mobile.
• Client for PPTP VPNs.
• Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), which in mobile phones allows the phone to make its Internet connection available to computers via USB and Blue tooth.
• File system similar to that of Windows 9x/Windows NT, with support for many of the same file types.
• Ability to multi-task.

 

 

  4. Explain the purpose of several utility programs: file manager, search utility, image viewer, uninstaller, disk cleanup, disk defragmenter, backup andrestore utilities, screen saver, personal firewall, antivirus programs, spyware and adware removers, Internet filters, file compression, media player, disc burning, and personal computer maintenance.

A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to work with file systems. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files are: create, open, edit, view, print, play, rename, move, copy, delete, search/find, and modify attributes, properties and permissions. Files are typically displayed in a hierarchy. Some file managers contain features inspired by web browsers, including forward and back navigational buttons. Some file managers provide network connectivity via protocols, such as FTP, NFS, SMB or WebDAV. This is achieved by allowing the user to browse for a file server (connecting and accessing the server's file system like a local file system) or by providing its own full client implementations for file server protocols.