Function of Operating System

An operating system is a group of computer programs that coordinates all the activities among computer hardware devices. It is the first program loaded into the computer by a boot program and remains in memory at all times.
Most operating system performs the functions given below.
Memory Management: Memory management function of an operating system takes care of allocation and de-allocation of memory space to programs in need of these resources.
File Management: File management function of an operating system takes care of file related activities such as organization,storage,retrial,naming,sharing and protection of files.
Input/Output Management: An operating system keeps track of I/O devices i.e which device is in use and by which job that device is using.It decides which job should use which device and how long. It allocates the devices to the job and de-allocates devices after the completion of the job.
Process management: An operating system takes care of creation and deletion of processes, scheduling of system resources to different processes requesting them and providing mechanism for communicating between the processes.
Security Management: An operating system protects the resources and information of a computer against destruction and unauthorized access.

Booting the computer

The process of starting or restarting the computer is known as booting. A cold boot is when you turn on a computer that has been turned off completely. A warm boot is the process of using the operating system to restart the computer.

Performs basic computer tasks

The operating system performs basic computer tasks, such as managing the various peripheral devices such as the mouse, keyboard and printers. For example, most operating systems now are plug and play which means a device such as a printer will automatically be detected and configured without any user intervention.

Provides a user interface

A user interacts with software through the user interface. The two main types of user interfaces are: command line and a graphical user interface (GUI). With a command line interface, the user interacts with the operating system by typing commands to perform specific tasks. An example of a command line interface is DOS (disk operating system). With a graphical user interface, the user interacts with the operating system by using a mouse to access windows, icons, and menus. An example of a graphical user interface is Windows Vista or Windows 7.
The operating system is responsible for providing a consistent application program interface (API) which is important as it allows a software developer to write an application on one computer and know that it will run on another computer of the same type even if the amount of memory or amount of storage is different on the two machines.

Handles system resources

The operating system also handles system resources such as the computer's memory and sharing of the central processing unit (CPU) time by various applications or peripheral devices. Programs and input methods are constantly competing for the attention of the CPU and demand memory, storage and input/output bandwidth. The operating system ensures that each application gets the necessary resources it needs in order to maximize the functionality of the overall system.

Provides file management

The operating system also handles the organisation and tracking of files and directories (folders) saved or retrieved from a computer disk. The file management system allows the user to perform such tasks as creating files and directories, renaming files, coping and moving files, and deleting files. The operating system keeps track of where files are located on the hard drive through the type of file system. The type two main types of file system are File Allocation table (FAT) or New Technology File system (NTFS).

Types of file system

File Allocation table (FAT)
New Technology file system (NTFS)
File Allocation table (FAT) uses the file allocation table which records, which clusters are used and unused and where files are located within the clusters.

NTFS is a file system introduced by Microsoft and it has a number of advantages over the previous file system, named FAT32 (File Allocation Table).

One major advantage of NTFS is that it includes features to improve reliablity. For example, the new technology file system includes fault tolerance, which automatically repairs hard drive errors without displaying error messages. It also keeps detailed transaction logs, which tracks hard drive errors. This can help prevent hard disk failures and makes it possible to recover files if the hard drive does fail.

NTFS also allows permissions (such as read, write, and execute) to be set for individual directories and file.