A device driver is storage which tells the OS how to communicate with a peripheral (hardware). OSs will have a general device driver to tell how to communicate with generic peripherals like mice and keyboards, but for more complex inputs you might need to download a device driver from the internet.
System Software- manages hardware I.e. OS and utility software
Utility Software
-System software with a single purpose to do with system maintenance
Compression- Compression reduces file size, either temporarily or permanently. There are 2 types: Lossy and Lossless.
Lossy permanently compresses a file. This reduces file size more than lossless, but the quality is permanently reduced. E.g. jpeg
Lossless temporarily compresses a file. This doesn't reduce file size as much as lossy, but when you open the file the quality is as good as the original. E.g. zip
Compression means that files will take up less storage and bandwidth.
Backups- A backup is a copy of a set of files, stored on a separate device or in a separate area to the originals. This means that if the original files are corrupted or accidentally deleted or modified, you have a copy of them, meaning your data isn't deleted forever. There are 2 types of backups: Full and Incremental.
A full backup backs up the whole set of files every time a backup is made.
An incremental backup backs up only the new files made in the set.
A full backup will take up more storage than the incremental, as you will have multiple copies of files which are the same. If you were setting up a system for backups, you would probably do a full backup, and then do incremental.
Disk Defrag- This manages storage of a computer to utilise the space. When a file is created, it takes up sequential segments, and as more are created, they fill up the space next to the previous file. If a file is deleted, that leaves a space in storage. New files will be split up into pieces to fill up the spaces, which takes more time to find. Defrag rearranges data to make it all run contiguously, which improves read/write speed and therefore performance. This can only happen on a HDD, not SSD.
Antivirus- This scans files of a device, and compares the bit pattern with that of known viruses from a database. If a virus is detected, the file can be flagged, quarantined or deleted. Antiviruses can also scan specified files and folders if you want it to. They can also scan just downloaded files.
This is important as viruses can corrupt files, slow down a computer, spread, and share personal details.
File manager- This provides an interface to organise your files. It allows you to edit, move, delete and rename files, and make folders/directories to put them into.
Open/closed source
Open source software is usually free, has the source code available, and is allowed to be modified.
Closed source/proprietary is usually paid for, compiled, and is not allowed to be modified.
Application software- A program designed to perform specific function(s) to meet a user's needs
Translators
Interpreter, Compiler
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