Operating systems (OS) are a set of integrated programs that control computer resources and operations. The OS is not visible to the user, but it provides services that software can make software and hardware more user-friendly.
Access to data stored on disks is an essential operating system feature, and requires the OS to have a method of organizing the contents of each file in order to increase speed, reliability and storage efficiency. This structure is called a file system. It permits files to be given names and attributes, and to be organized in directories or folders to form the directory tree.
The majority of computers have a variety of kinds of hardware devices, such as keyboards, printers, mice and more that depend on driver software to communicate with the system. The operating system installs, configures and manages these drivers to provide the right service to the applications. It also hides hardware details to users to allow them to interact with their system without having to know the exact configuration of their hardware.
Process Management
OSs monitor all the programs running on a computer. They also determine the amount of time each application will get in a multitasking setting. It also controls the interruptions that programs cause to divert processors’ focus and ensures there enough memory available for an application to complete its work without interfering other processes.
Operating systems also perform other functions that are related to the general functioning of the computer, including keeping the primary memory full of massive byte arrays, or word arrays that each contain an address. The OS determines how many of these bytes are utilized by various applications and can delete, move or arrange them to free up space.