Operating systems and utility software (1.5.1–2) GapFill

Computers use a variety of programs to manage their resources and perform basic operations. The most important of these is the computer's  storagedriverOperating System (OS)CPU, which is responsible for peripheral management, memory management, maintaining file systems, providing user profiles and creating a user interface.

A user interface provides a way for the user to interact with the computer and see its current status. This can be done using images in a  Graphical User Interface (GUI)Form Based Interface (FBI)Gesture Driven Interface (GDI)Command Line Interface (CLI), or with just text in a  Command Line Interface (CLI)Form Based Interface (FBI)Graphical User Interface (GUI)Gesture Driven Interface (GDI).

Memory management is used to determine where to load programs into memory, and which parts of memory should be  quarantinedmade available to which processescompiledcompressed.

User profiles allow multiple users to share a computer system while preventing them from accessing each other's private data. It also allows for  user permissionsfirewallsdriversforensics software to be set up, which can prevent certain users from making unwanted changes to the system.

File systems determine how data is organised by allowing users to create, delete, copy and modify folders and files. They also provide a way for users to search for particular files and prevent errors that may occur when  files are downloadedmultiple processes attempt to modify a file simultaneouslythe computer loses powerdata is corrupted.

As there are so many different peripheral devices available, it would be impossible to program a computer to handle every peripheral that it may need to use. Instead, a program known as a  fragmentdriverkey loggerregister is needed to tell the computer how to communicate with a particular peripheral. Many peripherals automatically provide this software to be downloaded and installed when they are first connected to the computer.

Computers also use a wide variety of applications that maintain the computer to improve its performance or security, known as  embedded softwaregeneral purpose softwareapplication softwareutility software. These include:

• encryption applications that  hide files marked as privatedelete unused filesrearrange programs in storage into sequence so that they can run fasterprevent data from being read by unauthorised users
• defragmentation applications that  prevent data from being read by unauthorised usersrearrange programs in storage into sequence so that they can run fasterhide files marked as privatedelete unused files
• compression applications that  hide files marked as privatereduce the size of filesdelete unused filesprevent data from being read by unauthorised users
• archiving applications that  back up files in storagedelete unused filesreduce the size of fileshide files marked as private