Operating Systems & Utility Software (OCR GCSE Computer Science)

Exam Questions

54 mins11 questions
12 marks

State two functions of the operating system.

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21 mark

Identify one advantage of a command line interface.

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33 marks

For each statement, identify if the statement is True or False.

Statement

True/False?

Utility software is designed to perform a number of tasks

Utility software interacts with the computers hardware

Some utility software comes installed with the operating system

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1a1 mark

Layla uses utility system software.

State the purpose of utility system software

1b3 marks

Layla uses a backup utility. She performs both full and incremental backups.

Explain the reasons why Layla performs both full and incremental backups.

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28 marks

Ali’s tablet computer has an operating system.

Complete the following description of the functions of an operating system by selecting the appropriate missing words from those in the box.

user, drivers, directories, hardware, interface, multitasking, output, peripherals, printers, processor, RAM, utility, ROM, running, passwords, faster, volatile, virtual.

The operating system provides a user ............... This displays the output to the user and allows the user to interact with the ....................


The operating system controls the movement of data from secondary storage to ...........and vice-versa. This is known as memory management.

The operating system can only perform one process at a time, but by managing the memory the computer can appear to be completing more than one process at a time. This is known as .................................

An operating system allows device ................to be installed to allow an external piece of hardware to interact with the .....................................

The operating system provides security through user accounts and .......................... It also creates and maintains a file system to organise files and ................................

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33 marks

Xander’s tablet computer comes with system software, including an operating system and utility system software.

The operating system provides file management.

Identify three ways that Xander can make use of the file management facility.

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4a4 marks

The utility system software provides compression software. Xander uses this to compress an image.

Explain how the compression software will compress the image file.

4b2 marks

Give the name of two other types of utility system software

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5a3 marks

William’s computer has utility programs installed including automatic backup.

William can choose between a full or incremental backup.

Identify the backup method William should use to backup the computer, justifying your choice.

Method

Justification

5b3 marks

Give one additional utility program William could make use of and describe how he would use it.

Utility program

Description

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1a4 marks

A restaurant has a computer-based ordering system which is running slowly. A technician has said that the hard disc drive is fragmented. The technician has suggested using utility software to defragment the drive.

Explain how the restaurant’s hard disc could have become fragmented.

1b3 marks

Explain how defragmentation software could overcome the issue of the slow computer system.

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26 marks

Layla uses her computer to create educational games

Layla makes use of system software.

One type of system software is the operating system.

Identify and describe two functions of an operating system.

Function

Description

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3a3 marks

Ali runs defragmentation analysis on his magnetic hard disk. Parts of the results are shown.

Fragmented block diagram with alternating black, dark gray, light gray, and white sections representing files 1, 2, 3, and free space. Legend shown below.

Explain how defragmentation will change how the files and free space are arranged on Ali’s hard disk.

3b2 marks

After defragmentation, Ali’s computer is able to access files faster.

Explain why Ali’s computer can access the files faster after defragmentation.

3c3 marks

Give three additional examples of utility programs.

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