File Properties and Attributes, Operating Systems - Assignment Example

File properties and Attributes Explain how you would view an open documents file properties File > Properties To view the properties of an open document in Microsoft Word, go to the File Menu and Click on Properties. This will open the properties window for the open document. Describe the steps you would take to view the file properties of a document without opening it Right Click Icon > Properties To view the file properties of any document without opening it, you should go to the location of the file and right click on its icon. In the popup menu, click ‘Properties’. This will open the properties window for the selected file without opening it. List and Explain the main file properties and attributes. The properties window contains various properties for the document. The major options and properties of any document are as under. Creation Date, Modification Date and Access Date are the three dates contained in the properties of any file. They are the dates on which the document was created, last modified and last accessed. The Summary Section of properties contains the details about the author, title, company, subject, comments and other related properties. By default, the author and Company are automatically picked from the system settings but the user can change them for his particular needs. The Statistics Section contains the statistics about the document. The statistics contained include the number of words, number of lines, pages, paragraphs and characters. Custom values may also be defined for the document by the user. Operating Systems/Data Representation In the operating systems, the data stored at lowest level is in the form of binary numbers (0s and 1s). The storage is in such a manner that the combinations of 0s and 1s make up the entire document and contents of the files. The data is represented by a sequence of 0s and 1s determining the characters. Each character is composed of a number of 0s and 1s which are determined by the assigned ASCII code. The operating systems are the system software that provides an interface for users to interact with the computer to perform their required tasks. The operating systems are major software applications necessary for computer users to use the system. Without the operating system, the users can not use computer as computers do not understand human languages. The operating systems perform the task of translating user inputs to computer understandable format and vice versa. “An operating system is a special computer program that manages the relationship between application software, the wide variety of hardware that makes up a computer system, and the user of the system” [Wikipedia]. Describe the functions and layers of an operating system The lowest level of any operating system is the kernel layer which is the first layer that is loaded into the computer memory when the system boots. Once the booting process is complete, the kernel hands over the control to various other applications and programs to run. Kernel also provides access to various core services to other programs. These include disk access, memory management, task scheduling and other hardware devices. The layers of OS include Service layer providing services to other software to interact and use functionality of kernel, Command layer providing a command driven interface options and application layer running and executing application level software and tasks. List the resources allocated by the operating system and explain the process of the allocation process. Include: Single process resource allocation The single process resource allocations are done in a simple manner. Based on the available resources, the CPU distributes the entire process into pieces and allocates and schedule resources accordingly. Multiple process resource allocation In multiple processes, the CPU identifies the various processes first and then arranges them in their priorities and order of execution. After that the resources are allocated to each of them as per their requirements and needs. Process management Process management is done by the operating system or may also be done using various process management softwares available. The task of process management involves managing processes running and/or are about to run. Some processes are tied to applications whereas others are independent. The operating system keeps track of all processes running at any point in time. They can be accessed using the task manager and going to the processes tab. Describe the following and give examples of their uses: Pre emptive scheduling Preemptive scheduling lets a pending high-priority job take resources away from a running job of lower priority. This may be involuntarily in order to perform the high-priority tasks as quick as possible. When 2 jobs compete for the same resource, jobs are automatically suspended such that the low-priority job makes the resources available to the high-priority job. The low-priority job is resumed as soon as possible after the completion of high priority one. Priority based scheduling Priority based scheduling is based on the concept of prioritization where each task is assigned a priority which determines the sequence and execution pattern of tasks. Real time scheduling Real time scheduling makes the scheduling decisions in real time and nothing is predetermined. The tasks and their allocation are done as and when their requests arrive. Describe and compare the use of command driven/GUI based interfaces. Give examples and, if possible, use diagrams or images Command driven interfaces are those where the end user uses commands to perform the required tasks instead of using a graphical interface. Command driven interfaces are powerful and preferred by core users who are familiar with the command scripts and languages. For example, initial versions of various operating systems, DOS (Disk Operating System), UNIX and serve machines use a command driven interface. Graphical User Interface or GUI is a graphical interface for users to interact and use the functionality of systems. The GUI provides pointers, windows, menus, buttons and icons among other features. They are easy to use, operate and handle without having knowledge of underlying coding and language. Microsoft Windows, new versions of Macintosh and Linux are examples of Graphical User Interface. Investigate the new Windows OS that is due for release later this year highlight new features and uses and discuss reasons for its’ release The new release of Windows OS is soon to be launched. Its name is Windows Vista (code name Longhorn). It has got enhanced graphics capabilities and a better security than the previous versions of Windows. The easy to use graphical interface is one of the major changes brought about in the Windows OS. Vista will be the most secure version of Windows as by its launch. The introduction of new Internet Explorer IE7 and the use of gadgets and sidebars are among some of its unique features. The speech recognition and performance in other areas is improved. The major reason for its new release is to provide users with more confidence in their PCs and to give them an enhanced and secure sophisticated graphical working environment. Describe the difference between physical and virtual memory. Explain why virtual memory is used. Physical memory is the memory available in hand in physical form. Virtual memory is something which does not exist and is virtual in nature. The virtual memory frees up unutilized spaces from RAM and makes them available for use. The content of the freed space is copied on hard disk for future use. This way the RAM can be used for more than the RAM size. Virtual memory provides the user with more memory than what is existent. All this is happening internally, without the user being aware of this copying. Describe the purpose of device drivers Device drivers or device driver softwares are the software that are used to install the working instructions for any particular hardware component attached to the system. the device driver softwares provide for the information required to run any device in a desired manner. Describe, in your own words, with a supporting diagram, how round-robin scheduling occurs. Round-robin is one of the simplest scheduling algorithms for processes in an operating system, which assigns time slices to each process in equal portions and in order, handling all processes as having the same priority. List at least 3 input devices, explaining the merits of each of them Keyboards are used to enter characters into the system for many purposes. Keyboards are also used to operate and control various activities and processes going on in the system. Other than this, keyboard shortcuts are used to perform tasks in a short and convenient manner. Mice are mostly commonly used pointing devices. They are used to point to various locations and spots on the screen and to make selections and carrying out commands using their clicks. Scanners and Cameras are used for getting non textual inputs. Mostly the inputs are in the form of images and multimedia format. Scanners may also be used in combination with Optical Character Recognizers to convert scanned documents to textual format with a high degree of accuracy. List at least 4 output devices, explaining the merits of each of them Monitors are used to display output in temporary manner. They make use of light rays or LCDs to display output on the screen. Latest monitors can also be used as input devices with their touch screen functionalities. Printers are used to get a hard copy output from the computer. They may have variations in their output depending upon their intensity, sharpness, quality and pages printed per minute. Speakers are used to give audio outputs. They may be built-in to the system or attachable. Plotters are used for plotting various functions, graphs and charts on huge paper sheets. The plotters work with a pen drawing the things in the same manner as if they were done manually. They are used to draw various statistical charts, mathematical graphs and other maps. Explain basic management tasks on a computer The basic management tasks on computer include a number of internal as well as user initiated activities. The internal processes deals with peripherals management, task management and scheduling, process management, memory management and resource management. All these are carried out internally without the involvement of users. Various tasks of management are controlled by user. They are more logical as compared to the computer managed ones. The user managed tasks include the tasks of user and rights management, network management, security management and authorizations made for various files and folders. File Management involves the task of saving, locating, managing and retrieving various files on system. this task deals with the management and arrangement of files into folders and subfolders with their appropriate uses, conventions and managing within the given constraints (if any). Using supporting screenshots explain the different type of searches that you can use within windows explorer to find a specific file. List several different methods you could use to copy a file to another location. Describe the process of deleting a file from both a computer and a removable storage device. Various searches can be done using the system to find any file on the machine. The search facility with windows is the most commonly used method. Go to search window from the start menu, Type in the search keyword (file name in this case with extension, if known) and select the drives/folders to look into and press search button. The search wizard will look into the selected disk area and return the relevant files, if found. Other options to search may be to locate the file manually using the ‘My Computer’. Searching may also be done over the internet or local area network, specifying the appropriate criteria for search in each case. Works Cited 1. www.microsoft.com/windows/default.mspx 2. www.computer.howstuffworks.com/virtual-memory.htm 3. http://en.wikipedia.org 4. www.webopedia.com 5. http://cob.isu.edu/cis205/operatingsystems.htm Read More