operating+systems+(multitasking,+boot)+and+utilities,+for+example,+defragment,+disk+format,+virus+scanprograms

**Operating systems (multitasking, boot) and utilities, for example, defragment, disk format, virus scan programs**

There are two major operating systems today – Windows and Macintosh. Both of these operating systems can perform the tasks listed above. I’ll go in details on how each operating system performs the tasks listed above and many others.

 First, and perhaps one of the main tasks is multitasking. Multitasking refers to being able to perform many tasks at the same time. For example, listening to music on iTunes while working on a document or watching a movie while creating a PowerPoint slideshow. Both Windows and Mac can perform this. And switching of programs is very easy. In Windows, you can just press Alt+Tab while in Mac you have to press Apple+Tab to switch between the programs.

 Boot refers to starting up the computer. From experience, Mac OS starts at a faster pace than Windows. After the computer has been started, you can click on “Start” buttin in Windows OS to start working and for Mac, just go to Finder or search for whatever you want to use in spotlight.

 Utilities just refers to “useful programs” that in computers’ case help the computers run more efficiently. This is where the main difference comes between Windows OS and Mac OS. While in the case of Windows, you HAVE to use all these utilities in order to make your computer run smoothly, in case of Mac, none of this needed. Why? It’s just because of the basic infrastructure of the two operating systems.

 In windows, disk defragment and disk formatting should be done once/month so old files are processed properly and new files are more accessible to the user. If this isn’t done then the computer becomes slow because it takes more time to access the old files. If this is done, then the computer is “relatively” faster because the old files have been defragmented. Formatting of the disk refers to preparing a hard disk for use. This is needed when the operating system is corrupt or there’s a virus in the system. Then the formatting of the disk should be done so that the virus is taken care of and the disk is ready for use again. Both of these are not needed in Mac OS because Mac automatically keeps a record of all the new files that are created and hence the spotlight function is much more faster than the search function in Windows.

 Now the last thing: virus scan. As we all already know, Windows has about 114,000 known viruses while Mac has…none. Yep, that’s right – Mac has no viruses and hence none of the anti-software stuff is needed for Mac. A Mac user can just use his Mac while not worrying about any spyware or virus cleaning his/her hard drive. Windows users, however, have to be on a look out for possible viruses all the time. That’s why windows users spend all their money on extra software to keep their computers running smoothly! Conclusion is buy a Mac and use the computer for what it was made for! Be happy!

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An operating system (OS) is the first and most basic program installed onto a computer. Without the OS, the computer is essentially useless; therefore all computers must have an operating system to run. Most of the time a computer comes with an operating system already pre-loaded onto it. These are usually Windows developed by Microsoft, Macintosh developed by Apple, or UNIX. These mentioned above are not the only operating systems available. In fact, there are hundreds available for ‘special purpose applications’(1) (robotics, mainframes, etc). The purpose of an operating system is to manage and control the hardware and software of the computer (memory, disk space, etc).
 * Operating systems in depth.**

 To put it in simple terms, ‘to boot’ basically means to start up your computer. The term originated from the idea that the computer has to lift itself up ‘by its own bootstraps’ to get going. Computers can perform two types of boots, ‘cold boots’ and ‘warm boots’. A cold boot is when a computer is turned on from its total power-off status. So if your computer is turned off, and you power it up, you have just preformed a cold boot. A warm boot, also known as a ‘re-boot’, is when a computer is restarted by performing a reset operation (Ctrl-Alt-Del, etc) when a program freezes. The operating system is the first piece of software loaded during the computer boot because it is crucial as it runs all other programs. During the boot the computer’s ransom access memory (RAM) is recycled.
 * Boot**

**Multitasking** Multitasking is the ability of an operating system to run two or more programs at the same time. For example, when a computer user is opening an application, browsing a folder, or surfing the internet, they are using the operating system’s multitasking ability.

**Virus Scan Programs**  Viruses... nasty! When you hear virus and computer in the same sentience, you know it can never be good. Thankfully most operating systems come with some form of virus prevention or detection. Virus scanners can also be installed for more protection. These virus scanners basically work by searching all the files, programs, and applications on your computer. What is it searching for? Well, it is looking for certain code patterns or signatures of known viruses. Once a virus is detected it is automatically deleted by the program. Although these virus scanners are very helpful, they are not a complete solution. They only work with known viruses and thus they are only as powerful as their last update. Solution - update your virus scanning software regularly to decrease the chance of being infected.

**Disk Format** There are two types of disk formatting, ‘low-level’ and ‘high-level’. Low-level formatting, also known as ‘true formatting’, creates the actual spaces and structures on the surface of the storage media (hard disk or floppy disk) that will be used to hold the data. ‘High-level formatting uses the structures created by the low-level formatting to prepare the disk to hold the actual files’(2).

**Disfragment** ‘When computer files are created or deleted, the free space on the computer is split up into small non-contiguous blocks.’(3) This means that when new files are created, they unfortunately cannot be stored next to each other on the disk. Instead, they are scattered along the disk, fitting into any of the free blocks they find. This causes the file to become ‘fragmented’. Having fragmented files on your computer is not a good thing. It can cause the computer to run slower and it increases the risk of having corrupt files. But by using the ‘Disk Defragmenter’ application, you can easily fix the problem of having fragmented files. To do this, the Disk Defragmenter rewrites the fragmented files so that they all fall into continuous blocks next to each other on the disk.

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