Operating Systems and File Management
What the exam tests
Operating Systems and File Management covers OS functions, process and memory management, user interfaces, file systems, paths, attributes and common utilities. Vocational questions ask you to choose an OS type, interpret a path, or perform file operations safely.
Core rules
- An OS manages processes, memory, files, devices and security, and provides a user interface.
- Types: batch, multiprogramming, time-sharing, real-time, distributed network and mobile OS. Real-time systems prioritise predictable response.
- A process moves through new, ready, running, waiting and terminated states; the scheduler selects the next process.
- Virtual memory uses secondary storage to extend RAM; paging divides memory into fixed-size pages, segmentation into logical segments.
- A file has a name, extension, location, size, timestamps and attributes such as read-only, hidden or system.
- A path names a file location. In Windows, C:\Users\Riya\Docs\project.docx is an absolute path; Docs\project.docx is relative.
- File names cannot contain backslash, slash, colon, asterisk, question mark, quotation mark, angle brackets or vertical bar on Windows. Extensions associate files with applications.
Worked example
C:\Users\Riya\Docs\project.docx has extension .docx and belongs to a word processor. The folder Docs is inside Riya, inside Users, on drive C:. If Riya copies the file to D:\Backup, the file content is duplicated but the path changes. If she creates a shortcut, the shortcut is a small link, not a second copy.
Traps
Deleting a shortcut does not delete the original file. FAT32 has a 4 GB maximum file size; NTFS supports larger files and permissions. Hiding a file is not encryption. Renaming an extension does not convert the file format. A relative path depends on the current folder.