The operating system (OS) is an integrated set of specially designed software that manages the overall computer operations and resources. From a user’s point viewpoint, the OS is invisible — however, it provides applications with services they can use to make hardware and software more user-friendly.

This is an essential operating system function. The OS must be able to organize the contents of files to increase speed, reliability and storage efficiency. This structure is called a file system. It permits files to have names and attributes, and to be organized in directories or folders forming an a directory tree.

Most computers are equipped with many kinds of hardware devices, such as keyboards, mice, and printers that depend on device drivers to communicate with the system. The operating system installs and configures these drivers in order to provide the appropriate service to the applications. It also hides the hardware information from the user, so that they can interact with the system without knowing the specific hardware configuration.

Process Management

An OS keeps track of all the applications running on the computer and determines how much time should be allocated to each one in a multitasking scenario. It also manages interruptions applications create to keep a processor’s focus and ensures there sufficient memory to allow the application to complete its task without interfering with other processes.

Operating systems that site about Mastering Security with Data Room Solutions also perform other tasks which are related to the overall functioning of the computer, including keeping the primary memory full of massive byte arrays, or word arrays which each have an address. The OS will track the amount of bytes used by various applications and shift, delete, or reorganize these bytes to free up space.