operating system

Operating system An Operating system is the most important piece of software running on a computer. Many people have used a computer, all have used Microsoft word or excel for spreadsheets. These are application program. The application program interacts with the Operating system, and now the Operating system is a program that is run when ether a computer is switched on. We need an Operating system installed on our computers or else it will become very inhospitable. We all use digital computers and everything is represented by numbers. The Operating system provides help to do productive work such as writing letters or surfing the web. It an provide the techniques to overlap input and output with processing, while a program is receiving an input from the keyboard, another can e writing to a file whilst another processes. This means the efficiency of the computer is improved. An Operating system is software which makes .A typical 3.5 inch disk holds 1.44 MB of data. Before data can be stored on a disk it must be formatted. This creates a magnetic map of the disk surface so that data can be either read from the disk or written onto the disk quickly. Because of their high speed to access stored data, floppy disks are probably the most common way of storing data. Software Software is the name for all of the programs that are needed to run the hardware. Without software the hardware would be useless. A software package is a program or set of programs together with a full set of documentation. Software programs are usually one of two types: Systems programs or applications. Systems programs - A systems program is one of the programs that controls the computer system or provides facilities. Computer manufacturers often supply systems software when you purchase your computer. Utility programs and the operating system are both examples of systems programs. Operating systems - A computer is a complex assembly of different components. These components include processing and memory chips, input and output devices and backing stores. All these components have different functions and run at different speeds. The operating system is responsible for the co-ordination of all the components so that the computer as a whole works efficiently. It also provides the communication between the computer and the user enabling the computer to be used in the most efficient way possible. The operating system also allocates memory space to programs and shares processor time among them. Applications packages - An applications package is a complete program, or set of programs, to carry out a task such as stock control or wage calculations. Applications packages can be bespoke (made to order) or off the shelf (ready made). Bespoke - Bespoke application packages are custom made or designed for an individual or company such as an information system for a large insurance company. Bespoke packages are widely used in the business world because they provide an efficient way of working as they can be tailored to specific goals and requirements. However, this type of applications package is very expensive and requires professional programmers to create it and possibly support staff to be on hand in case of any problems. Off the shelf - Off the shelf application packages are those that can be bought and are ready to use as soon as they have been installed on your computer. They are relatively cheap to purchase compared to bespoke packages and can be customised to meet requirements. There is a wide range of off the shelf packages available and they can be used to carry out a huge number of tasks. Review of MusicMatch Jukebox MusicMatch Jukebox is a software package, which enables you to listen to and record MP3's. The basic package can be downloaded from the Internet for free and the plus package can be purchased for around £15. MusicMatch is frequently updating its software and updates can be downloaded free of charge. When you first install MusicMatch it gives you the option of searching through your hard drive and putting all of the MP3's into the music library. This I found to be a useful feature that other MP3 packages do not usually have. You can also classify all of your music as each MP3 can be given a tag, which includes the artists name, song title, album and genre. MusicMatch will even connect to the Internet to look up the tags for you. This facility enables you choose a particular genre and let the computer select the music for you. MusicMatch also makes the recording of MP3's very easy and also relatively fast. However, I have discovered that MusicMatch isn't without problems one of which is the annoying fact that it always try's to connect to the Internet and it is slightly confusing to use. It has no real music download (from the Internet) facility therefore the only time I use the Internet with this package is for listening to the radio. Finally, there is also no audio equaliser, which I think would be a nice addition to the package. Review of Windows Media Player Windows media player can be used for playing, recording and organising multimedia on your computer. It can be used to listen/record MP3's, watch films and listen to the radio on the Internet. It can support many different file formats including: Real Audio, Real Video, MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MPEG 3 (MP3). Windows Media Player is extremely easy to use as it has the same format as other Microsoft programs, such as MS Word where you go to the File menu and then to Open. Similar to MusicMatch it is capable of searching your hard drive for media files and adding them to your library but unlike MusicMatch it also has a 10-band audio equaliser which I find gives it a much better sound quality. Windows Media Player usually comes installed on your computer if you have a Microsoft Operating System. If you do not, or you have an older version it can be downloaded for free from the Internet. Windows Media Player also has visual displays that can be played on your screen whilst you are listening to music. I think that the downside of this package is that you are not able to easily play particular genres or 'moods' of music. Instead you have to compile play lists, which is time consuming. Also, you can only connect to a limited number of radio stations which I think has something to do with it only supporting Microsoft format files. TASK 2 - What is a computer network? Explain the term LAN & WAN Computers that are connected over a network make the exchange of information easier and faster. The most basic type of network would be two computers linked together by a cable and communicating with each other. Local Area Network (LAN) - A local area network is a ...