Operating System (OS)

An Operating System is a very important part of a computer. Before we talk about the operating system, let us understand what a computer is made up of.

What is a Computer Made up of ?

A computer is made up of hardware and software.

Hardware refers to the parts of a computer that you can touch or feel. The CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, microphone, etc are examples of computer hardware. Input devices, the processing unit, storage devices and output devices are all examples of computer hardware.

Software refers to a set of programs (a set of instructions given to a computer) that performs some tasks in a computer. Some of the popular software are MS Windows, MS Office, KTurtle, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Photoshop, etc. When you start your computer, the operating system software also starts with it.

Operating System

An operating system is a program that helps the computer hardware to work with other computer software. It helps a user to get and output from the computer. A computer is of no use without an operating system.

Types Of Operating System

There are two types of operating system - single user an multi user.

Sigle User Operating System

A single user operating system allows only one user to work on it at a time.

A few examples are Windows XP, Mac OS (Macintosh Operating System), Windows 7, Windows 8, etc. Single-user operating systems are usually meant for home use.

Multi-User Operating System

A multi-user operating system allows many people to use the same computer at the same time or at different times. Therefore, this main computer is attached to many other computers. A few examples of such an operating system are Windows Server 2012, UNIX, Linux, etc. Multi-user operating systems are used in offices and big organization like hospitals and railway stations.

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft windows is one of the most popular operating systems. When you switch on a computer, the Windows operating system gets loaded into the computer memory automatically. While loading, the picture of the Windows flag appears on the screen. A few seconds later, a welcome message appears.

Desktop And Icons

Shortly after Windows welcome message appears, you will see a screen (similar to the screen given alongside) on the monitor with many small pictures on it. This screen is called the desktop and the small pictures are called icons.

Desktop with icons

Icons on the desktop 

The icons on the desktop may represent a file, a folder or a program (or software). By double-clicking these icons, you can open them.

Files And Folders

Any piece of information stored in the computer is in the form of a file. A file in Windows is similar to a file used by you to store test papers, your certificates and many other things. A file can contain data, programs, etc. There are different types of file like sound file, movie files and document files.

Each file is represented by a different icon. Each file can also be given a name that is useful to identify the file; this is known as it's file name.

A folder is used to store a group of files. The icon for a folder is, which looks a folder used for keeping papers. A folder can also contain other folders in it.

Taskbar

The taskbar is a long, horizontal bar at bottom of the screen. It contains buttons with icons, which tell us what programs are open on the computer. For example, if the Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Reader and Word 2013 programs are open, then the taskbar would appear.

Changing The Position Of The Taskbar

You can change or move the position of the taskbar to any of the four sides on the screen.

• Move the mouse pointer to an empty space on the taskbar.
• Click and hold the mouse button.
• Drag the mouse pointer to the right of the computer screen.
• Release the mouse button.

The taskbar would have moved to the right of the computer screen.

Start Button

You will see the Start button at the left corner of the taskbar. It helps you open any program on your computer. Clicking the start button displays a menu called start button.

Thanks You

Yash Vardhan