Types+of+software

= 1. Introduction = Software refers to the programs that we run on our computer systems. Software allows the hardware to do something useful; without software, the hardware wouldn’t know what it was supposed to do. Software is made up of a series of instructions or computer code. It is these instructions which tell the hardware that it needs to print a document or save a file or display a webpage. This section will look at the different types of software that you need to know about for your exam. = 2. Software Categories = There are two main categories of computer software that you need to know about. They are: ** 1. System software ** – the Operating System, utility programs and drivers We will look at each of these categories in a bit more detail over the next few pages.  = 3. Operating Systems = The operating system is part of the system software. All computers have an operating system, they cannot function without one. The operating system is a program that allows applications software to communicate with the hardware. Examples of operating systems are Windows Vista, Windows XP, Unix, Linux and MacOS. An operating system has many tasks. Here are just a few of them:
 * 2. Application software ** – the everyday programs that you use such as Microsoft Office, graphics packages and web browsers.
 * Sorting out where to store data on disk drives
 * Dealing with security - user names and passwords
 * Organising files and folders
 * Managing data transfer from the CPU to the peripherals e.g. printer, monitor
 * Deals with saving, deleting, opening, closing files