| operating system platform required | |
| An Operating system is required to allow all parts of a computer system to communicate with each other and with the user. | |
| Describe the purpose of an operating system including: | |
| controlling peripherals | |
| The OS controls the Input and Output to attached peripherals using device drivers. | |
| running software | |
| The OS schedules software access to the processor, this allows several pieces of software to appear to run at the same time. Example Word-processing while listening to music. | |
| HCI | |
| The Human Computer Interface is how the user and the operating system communicate with each other. The two main types of HCI are command line where the user types command and graphical where the user runs applications and command using icons and a pointing device. | |
| Understand the features of web browsers including: | |
| OS support | |
| Web browsers are often available for different operating systems. This allows the for the same browser experience on different platforms. | |
| privacy modes | |
| Most modern browsers have a privacy mode that clears browsing history and downloads from the computer at the end of the session. This is useful if you are trying to buy a gift and want it not to show up in your browser history. | |
| Ad filtering | |
| Browsers have the ability to block adverts, this can either be in the form of a pop up blocker or an extension that removes adverts from the pages. This might cause problems in the future as websites are ran by companies who need to make a profit to pay for the website. | |
| page zooming | |
| Some people require fonts etc. to be a little bit bigger to make them easier to read. Web pages can therefore be zoomed to increase the size of hard to read content. | |
| Description and exemplification of the appropriate type of software required for a specific information system including: | |
| type of application | |
| Word processor, spreadsheet, database, multimedia, presentation, web page authoring software, games. | |
| operating system | |
| Before buying or using an application you need to make sure that it is compatible with the operating system used on the computer. | |
