Functions of the OS
Practice Flashcards
Flip to reveal answersName the functions of an operating system.
Track your progress — Sign up free to save your progress and get smart review reminders based on spaced repetition.
All 5 Flashcards — Functions of the OS
Sign up free to track progress and get spaced-repetition review schedules.
Question
Name the functions of an operating system.
Answer
Memory management, scheduling, file system, device management, security, accounting, graphical user interface, virtualization and networking — all running in the background at once.
Question
What does memory management do?
Answer
Gives each program its own region of memory, tracks what is free, reclaims it when a program closes, and refuses any attempt to read or write memory belonging to another program.
Question
What does device management do?
Answer
Talks to every device through its driver and queues requests, so two programs never try to use one device at the same moment and no program needs to know the device's model.
Question
What is virtualization?
Answer
Making one physical machine appear to be several separate ones, each running its own operating system and unable to reach the others. It is how a single server hosts many customers.
Question
How does an OS stop one crashing program taking down the machine?
Answer
Each program has its own memory region and access outside it is refused; no program can address hardware directly. When one fails the OS stops it and reclaims its memory, leaving everything else running.
Read the notes
Full study notes for Functions of the OS
Topic 1.3 hub
Operating and control systems
More from Topic 1.3
All flashcards in this topic
Computer Science exam skills
Paper structures & tips
Track your progress with spaced repetition
Sign up free — Aimnova tells you exactly which cards to review and when, so you remember everything before your IB exam.
Start Free