CSC 220: Operating Systems

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Assignment 1

This assignment is based on chapter 2.

1. Which software manages hardware, runs applications, provides a user interface and performs file management?
2. What are the two main versions of Windows XP?
3. Identify the Microsoft OS that is expected to replace Windows XP.
4. Which open source Operating System is popular in the server market?
5. Identify the two main internal OS components.
6. Which main internal component does Windows Explorer belong to?
7. Identify two places where Windows stores configuration information.
8. Identify the types of OS interfaces.
9. Given the following path info: (C:\Windows\system32\config\software.LOG) identify the:
• Drive:
• Path:
• Filename:
• File Extension:
• # of folders in the path:

10. How many logical drives can a primary partition have?
11. List five things that CAN take place when installing an application.
12. Which mode is the CPU in when the OS is controlling how an application is accessing hardware?
13. What is  preemptive multitasking?
14. The operating system indirectly controls or relates to hardware through which two entities?
15. What are the three kinds of device drivers?
16. What is the name of the  virtual memory file on a Windows XP PC?
17. Programs on the left side of the Start menu are user-oriented. What are programs on the right-side?
18. Where is the system tray?
19. What are Control Panel Applets?
20. Identify the primary Windows tool for solving hardware problems.

Know the following terms:

• Child Directory
• CMOS Setup
• DMA/IRQ/Memory & I/O Addresses
• Directory Table
• File System
• HCL
• Multitasking
• Partition
• Shadow RAM
• Startup/System BIOS