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  2. Operating system - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system

    The operating system provides an interface between an application program and the computer hardware, so that an application program can interact with the hardware only by obeying rules and procedures programmed into the operating system. The operating system is also a set of services which simplify development and execution of application programs.

  3. Kernel (operating system) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(operating_system)

    Strictly speaking, an operating system (and thus, a kernel) is not required to run a computer. Programs can be directly loaded and executed on the "bare metal" machine, provided that the authors of those programs are willing to work without any hardware abstraction or operating system support. Most early computers operated this way during the ...

  4. Device driver - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_driver

    Instead of enabling the guest operating system to dialog with hardware, virtual device drivers take the opposite role and emulates a piece of hardware, so that the guest operating system and its drivers running inside a virtual machine can have the illusion of accessing real hardware. Attempts by the guest operating system to access the ...

  5. Comparison of user features of operating systems - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_user...

    MS-DOS (acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft.Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and some operating systems attempting to be compatible with MS-DOS, are sometimes referred to as "DOS" (which is also the generic acronym for disk operating system).

  6. Instruction set architecture - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction_set_architecture

    If an operating system maintains a standard and compatible application binary interface (ABI) for a particular ISA, machine code will run on future implementations of that ISA and operating system. However, if an ISA supports running multiple operating systems, it does not guarantee that machine code for one operating system will run on another ...

  7. System software - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_software

    A kernel is the core part of the operating system that defines an application programming interface for applications programs (including some system software) and an interface to device drivers. Device drivers and firmware , including computer BIOS or UEFI , provide basic functionality to operate and control the hardware connected to or built ...

  8. List of Microsoft Windows components - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Microsoft_Windows...

    Allows users to view and change basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and removing software, controlling user accounts, and changing accessibility options control.exe: Windows 1.0: Device Manager: Allows the user to display and control the hardware attached to the computer, and control what device drivers are used ...

  9. Architecture of Windows NT - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Windows_NT

    The Windows NT operating system family's architecture consists of two layers (user mode and kernel mode), with many different modules within both of these layers.. The architecture of Windows NT, a line of operating systems produced and sold by Microsoft, is a layered design that consists of two main components, user mode and kernel mode.