System Software
System software makes the computer's hardware resources available to applications in an orderly fashion. There are two general categories of systems software: operating systems and utilities.
The first category is operating systems. This type of systems software controls the hardware. Examples include:
- displaying things on the screen
- sending a file to the printer
- moving the mouse cursor around the screen in response to the user moving the mouse cursor.
- receiving keystrokes from the keyboard
Popular operating systems include Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
The second category is utilities. This type of systems software refers to separate programs that perform technical tasks, such as:
- scanning the computer for malware or viruses
- indexing and finding data on a hard disk
- defragmenting a hard disk
- adjusting the screen display
Application Software
Users interact with application software to perform tasks. On smartphones and other mobile devices, this type of software is called an "app." Examples of application software are depicted by the following commonly recognized icons:
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Licenses and Attributions
Smartphone Shopping Apps by Jason Howie on Flickr is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. UMGC has modified this work and it is available under the original license.