M1 – Comparison of two different Operating Systems

M1 – Comparison of two different Operating Systems

In this task I will be comparing two different Operating Systems, how are they similar and how do they differ.

Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion

Features	Similarities	Differences
Machine and Peripheral Management	On a Mac Operating System the control of the PC components are very much like Windows, but all of the devices have to be bought before they can be used.	For example on Windows you can control the monitor by pressing buttons on it and changing the resolution, colours, mouse by choosing a specific click speed. As for Macs you can control keyboard by changing input language.
Security	But both have anti-virus software installed within them which are Eset Cyber Security for Mac OS and AVG for Windows and both are trying their best to improve on the security to protect the system.	Mac OS X Lion is more secure and less vulnerable to viruses than Windows 7 because for example in windows data can be placed in a wide range of folders and if you try to unpick the installation, your computer might end up with unwanted codes in the system which can lead to viruses and Mac doesn’t have that thing. Today most people use Windows 7 OS which makes it an easy target for attackers.
File Management	For both you can use a search facility to look up for files, but for mac there it’s called a Finder where you type in what you want and the OS finds it for you if it’s on the computer and for Windows is just the text box where you enter a file name.	In windows it is easier to manage your files, it is easy to find them anywhere, as for in a mac if it is not on desktop, it is hard to find unless you know how to use mac properly. In windows you also have Personal library files such as “Personal Documents” which you wouldn’t have on Mac unless you create them yourself.
Ability to Customise		In Windows 7 you can’t customise as in Lion OS, for Lion you can limit which apps your child can use, can also prevent them e-mailing people the child doesn’t know. On the other hand for Windows, you can set time limits for accessing the PC. But Lion still goes one step ahead.
Support for Connectivity of Portable Media	Both Windows and Mac support the connection of different media such as CD/DVD, USB drives, drivers, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, when you plug something they appear on the desktop, same for both.
Stability and Reliability		Windows 7 is mainly stable, but it has a lot of software and other programs running which might decrease the stability. Windows is not that reliable either, because of the crashing/restarts needed every time. On the other hand OS X is very stable and it’s something you can rely on, because it has less software running and is more improved, as viruses doesn’t catch on easy as on Windows, it has a higher security level.
Ease of Management	Windows is more popular, but in both OS’s it’s easy to manage tasks. You can easily access the task manager by pressing few buttons on the keyboard also features can be found fast and you can use them features to modify and personalize your computer for both Mac and Windows.	Windows might be a bit easier because there a loads of tutorials available to teach others and are being taught how to use Windows instead of Macs.
Associated Utilities		There are more Windows Software Titles, but as well there is no shortage of good software for macs. Windows can run on Macs in a number of ways, using emulation software or macs can be booted straight to windows. Almost all of the audio, video art is done on macs, but Windows ruled and still rule the non-creative world because their machines are way cheaper than Macs and not as powerful.
Cost and support for the User		All the peripherals are way cheaper for Windows 7 than for the Mac, when comparing, all the upgrades, repairs, peripherals would cost more than the PC itself. But the Mac’s License is a lot cheaper than Windows 7. Mac is about £25 and Windows license is about £125 for twenty computers.

 

Conclusion

In this task I’ve explained every feature which can be similar, different or have similar and different things at the same time. I found more differences between the two Operating Systems, but I’ve got some similarities for both as well.

P2 – Explain the Purpose of an Operating System

P2 – Explain the Purpose of an Operating System

What is an Operating System?

An Operating System is software that manages computer’s software and hardware. It is settled between the BIOS and the application software so it can control what hardware resources are being used such as:

• Memory
• CPU time
• Disk space
• Peripheral devices

Why is an Operating System needed?

An Operating System is needed to boot up the computer, to control hardware, because without it it’s useless, it can do nothing on its own. An Operating System is software and software is needed to tell hardware what to do. It also acts as the radiator between the application software, hardware and the user. It is needed for the user so it can run different programs, without it you couldn’t interact with any applications or hardware.

How does it enable machine and peripheral management?

The Operating System has to recognise and control all modern devices, because they are all PnP (Plug and Play). Peripheral management controls all the peripheral devices by sending commands in their own language through drivers which are known as input/output or peripheral administrators. As well, the OS controls the time given of CPU to input and output device, so the CPU doesn’t sit idle. The device manager of the OS separates the drivers from the Kernel and the user applications from the hardware so it acts as an interface between drivers and both Kernel and user applications.

How does it enable security?

An Operating System ensures a computer’s security when it comes into contact with a good range of other systems via the Internet. It also makes sure that user data, connectivity, access to application software, access to system configuration and access to the filling systems is secure.

User data

The Operating System allows the user to set up a password and username on the computer or on individual documents for protection of the user’s data. You can also use disk encryption, it locks down all of the content of a disk drive and then it becomes unreadable to others.

Connectivity

Connecting to an unknown website or clicking on adverts can contain viruses which happen often, so the OS tries to protect the computer from catching one.

Access to applications software

OS Security lets different applications and programs to do required tasks and also stop unauthorized interference, it means that no restricts access to software for users.

Access to system configuration

System configuration can be harmful if unauthorised user’s go on it. It could make your computer not function properly, that is why usually Access to system configuration is limited to one or few users (mostly the owner of the computer) or for example in businesses to technicians.

Access to the filling system

Files that someone sent you, or that are in your computer can contain viruses as well, so the operating system tries to detect them when you open that file and also in a network, you only get to see your data.

 

How does it enable File Management?

An Operating System must create and take care of the filling system, where all data and programs are stored. It also has to keep a list of contents where data and programs are stored so users can keep track of where specific files are located and also in case backup is needed. One of Operating Systems jobs is to format drives into a specific format before they are being used. It can use many different kinds of file management systems. These systems might have different features and work smoothly with the Operating system.

 

D2 evaluate the risks involved in the installation or upgrade of software and explain how the risks could be minimised.

D2 evaluate the risks involved in the installation or upgrade of software and explain how the risks could be minimised.

 

In this section I will be evaluating the risks involved in the installation or upgrade of software and what are the chances of this happening and I will also going to be explaining how the risks could be minimised.

Loss of Income – Organisations can easily lose income if their IT system shuts down. Because when the system shuts down, no actions can be done for example: No orders can be accepted. In this way it is very likely that the organisation will lose customers, money and have a very bad reputation. When upgrading or installing new software there is medium chance of this happening as it is not that easy to shut the whole system down. But if this happened it would have a severe impact for the organisation. They would lose a lot of money fixing it; they would lose customers and reputation. They would as well lose time needed to fix the software. There are many ways of minimising risks. Creating a backup file should be done before any changes are being made (new software installation) because if anything goes wrong, the files can be reinstated and it saves time. Creating a backup file is easy and fast, you can choose where you want and how you want to save it.Low-risk time installation – another way of minimising risks is carefully choosing the time for installation, so it has to be planned before. It shouldn’t happen on day-to-day running of the business, the most suitable time to do it would be weekend, holidays etc. This will also give time for testing or restoring data and software.Pilot Deployment – You can reduce the risk to the organisations data, for example by installing software to one department to check if it runs side by side with old software. If something goes wrong only a small part of the organisation will be affected (one department).System Recovery Point – a screenshot of the computers Operating System is taken prior to the installation, so if the installation goes wrong, this is going to be used to reverse the damage.

Incompatibility issues – Software can be like people, people fight, so does software, but there has to be two pieces of software or between software and hardware. This happens because the software is out of date, or just with a bug. In order to fix this you would have to download a patch or install new software, because if you leave the software like this it could end up in the system going down for a short or a long period of time until the problem is fixed. There is a severe chance of this happening, because mostly all the new software is bugged or needs patches to work properly. Depending on the occasion, if this happens to a business it would have a huge impact on it, no work could be done, the business would lose a lot of time and money until the issue is resolved. To minimise risks the organisation can would have to think of using some of below: Creating a backup file before any changes are being made (new software installation or upgrade) because if anything goes wrong, the files can be reinstated and it saves time. Creating a backup file is easy and fast, you can choose where you want and how you want to save it.Low-risk time installation – choosing the time carefully for the installation. Everything has to be planned before, so no time is wasted. It can’t be done on day-to-day running of the business, should be considering of doing it at weekend, holidays etc.Pilot Deployment – You can also reduce the risk to the organisations data by installing software to one place to check if it runs side by side with old software. If something goes wrong only one place of the organisation will be affected.System Recovery Point – a screenshot of the computers Operating System is taken prior to the installation, so if the installation goes wrong, this is going to be used to reverse the damage.

Potential Loss of Service – if organisations system isn’t working properly after you install new software, there’s a big chance that the company will stop its work, at least all the things that needs a computer to work on. Then the company will have to spare their own time resolving the issue and money might be spent as well. For example if an online shop stops working, a lot of people will not receive their orders, so again they would lose customers and would have to spend time apologising them. In my view there is a severe chance of this happening, because all the new software usually doesn’t have all the things to work properly or you might have installed the software or software patch wrong. If this would happen, business might not be able to open some applications, or just get random crashes, the performance of the computer could get slower etc. To minimise risks of this happening there are a good few ways of doing that: Creating a backup file would be one. But it has to be created before any changes are being made (new software installation) because if anything goes wrong, the files can be reinstated and it saves time. Creating a backup file is easy and fast, you can choose where you want and how you want to save it.Low-risk time installation – Business should think of doing this at a careful time, best suitable would be holidays or weekends. It will also give time for testing or restoring data. Pilot Deployment – Business can reduce the risk to the organisations data by installing software to one place instead of doing it to the whole company and checking if it works properly alone and with the old software, because if something goes wrong, only one place will be harmed.System Recovery Point – take screenshots of the Operating System, because if the installation or upgrade of software goes wrong, the business can use this to reverse the damage.

Unstable Software – when an organisation gets new software it might not be working properly. A chance of this happening is very high, because when you’re downloading you don’t think this is going to happen, but once installed, your system might not support the software or it is really old, need to be updated etc. Mostly new software has lots of bugs. It may crash, destroy some of the data or just harm your computer in any way. With software being unstable gives you a big impact, because you don’t know what could happen. There are many ways of minimising risks. You can create a backup file; install software at a low-risk time etc. Creating a backup file should be done before any changes are being made (new software installation) because if anything goes wrong, the files can be reinstated and it saves time. Creating a backup file is easy and fast, you can choose where you want and how you want to save it.Low-risk time installation – another way of minimising risks is carefully choosing the time for installation, planning it before. Best time would be when workers are on holidays. Or on weekends, because there wouldn’t be as many or there would be none.Pilot Deployment – Would be useful to do the installation to one department and check if the software is running well, working side by side with old software. In case something goes wrong only one department will be affected.System Recovery Point – Take screenshots of the Operating System in case the installation of software goes wrong, this would be the only thing for reversing the damage.

P1 – Describe the Potential Prompts that Initiate the Installation of New or Upgraded Software

P1 – Describe the Potential Prompts that Initiate the Installation of New or Upgraded Software

 

In this section I will be discussing five things associated with software installations or upgrades, new hardware requiring new or upgraded software, external prompts for software bug fixes, problems with existing system, additional functionality required and company policy.

 

• Problems with existing systems

Over time with use, a PC can become slower or develop a fault and to fix it or increase the speed of the PC, it would be necessary to install new software in the computer. The software that is already in the computer could be out of date or in a need of an upgrade to be working properly again. Upgrading software should improve the performance of the computer. Other problems could be that unstable software was installed which can cause crash or harm the computer. The software might be old and never versions of it might be out so the software could no longer be supported by the person who created it. Any change that was made to the software might have a negative impact on the system for example: some of the applications might not work; there can be bugs with the software itself. The system might not accept the changes.

 

• New Hardware requiring new or upgraded Software

Always, when installing new hardware, to support it and to be able to control it a device driver is needed, otherwise the hardware will be pointless. A device driver is the software that tells the OS how to communicate with the hardware. When installing or upgrading hardware, an existing driver may need to be replaced, because you use a different driver for every hardware element, otherwise you will have no control of the h/w as it is old and doesn’t get in touch with the device. There is h/w that is already in the PC when you buy it, so changing a piece can have a knock on effect on the PC. Usual problems when installing new h/w are bugs, crashes, etc. The new h/w may stop s/w or other h/w from working because of this or cause it to have a bug. If the Software is stopped by the h/w, it might be necessary to download new s/w or just upgrade the current one. Most of the hardware needs software to be run and to configure and manage it.

 

• External prompts for software bug fixes

These days, the majority of new software has bugs and other problems which can cause faults to the computer eg: Crashes, PC turning off etc. So to fix the bugs updated versions of the Software (Patches) are released to resolve any identified issues. People sometimes download new s/w but if it has bugs, then they delete it and look for another one. This is why the manufacturer of h/w or s/w may prompt you to carry out updates on a regular basis, to keep the s/w up to date and to minimise the bugs. The easiest way of fixing bugs, severe faults etc. is just by upgrading the software or the hardware.

 

• Additional Functionality Required

Software is always installed for a purpose. Organisations only install software that they need and if the purpose changes, they have to change the software again. Sometimes an upgrade would be enough to meet the changes, but sometimes other software might be needed. For organisations new software is needed for additional functionality that will meet all the needs.

 

• Company Policy

Every organisation has policies to control what their software is used for in their company. They will control what software is on the machine. None of the organisations would let employees install random software, because it might be illegal or they might have a virus that would harm the company. If upgrades or installations are needed, they will plan everything out in a controlled manner. Companies might want the latest version of the software so they get the latest features so they can do more work than before and maybe faster, or they might be forced to upgrade or buy, as it is necessary for the software or they got a new task to carry out that needs more functions. Only legal and relevant software is allowed.

 

 

 

M1 – Advantages and Disadvantages of Installing and Upgrading Software

M1 – Explain the advantages and potential disadvantages of installation or upgrade of new software

In this section I will be explaining the Advantages and Disadvantages of software upgrading and installing.

Advantages

• Faster performance of the computer. The computer acts faster to what are the users doing for example: opening applications, surfing the web, the whole performance of the computer, everything could be faster.
• Upgrading software might fix the current bugs and stop the computer from experiencing faults, crashing. By installing a patch for the software the bugs will be fixed, there might be more features added.
• New features might be added which were not available in the older version of the software. Upgrading might offer you new functions, can increase productivity if it’s a business. For example: If there are more different features added, could be faster and more efficient.
• Improved security. Upgrading software can add additional security for your computer. It is always important that a company keeps their computers safe and up to date with antivirus software. This stops the viruses from catching onto the computer when you’re downloading something etc. Preventing hackers from getting into companies computers, a company must get a firewall so they don’t catch a virus from a website and close all unused ports, so they don’t leave any gaps for the hackers to get in.
• By installing new software you might be able of getting a new hardware installed onto your computer. Some software communicates with hardware with the help of System Resources like input/outputs etc.
• If you try to open new files with old software, it might not work, because the file won’t open. You have to upgrade it first to be able to work with it. Older versions don’t let s/w open files that have been created in newer versions.
• No one wants to pay too much for a software or waste money if they don’t know the software well. Because every business has a budget that they have to keep on. Paying for software can have a positive impact, as it would be more professional than a free one. Free software might not have the functions that the one you can buy.

Disadvantages

• You might have to pay for the updates and upgrades. If it is for a business, you would have to consider if it’s worth spending the money. For example: Business wouldn’t want to lose money, they would have to get recommendations from others or do some research first on the history of the software to make sure that the software is working properly, there are patches in case something goes wrong.
• In my view, the main disadvantage is that you might get bugs, which might stop you from using the older data files or the user wouldn’t be able to access things which he found helpful. For example: the early iTunes update stopped the users from uploading things via their iPods, so some of them choose not to come back to iTunes. The company would lose customers and ratings right away.
• You would lose time researching. If you want to get good software, you have to do research on the history and last updates/fixes in the software, so you don’t get a bad one which after install doesn’t let you open half of the files. The user or a business would lose a lot of time, work might not be done because you have to get the software first, might lose customers as well.
• It might take time re-learning some parts of the software, because the tools could have moved and tasks might be done in a different way than usual. In this way you will lose more time learning again, which might stop the company from working for a while.
• Might be hard for a business because workers might have to be trained again, which will cost time and money, so they would have to be taken out from their work place or even their free time.
• The software might be untrusted and unreliable. Companies wouldn’t want to install some cheap untrusted software that will harm their machines. It is better to pay extra money and get a good one, than paying less and getting bugged one, which doesn’t function properly.
• Does it do the job? If installed new software, the user or the company would have to spend time checking if it is functioning properly, are all the needed features there, does it reach all the capabilities. This would waste a lot of time and business wouldn’t like this to happen, so they would have to do the checking on a planned time.