Operating Systems

  • Allows users to communicate with systems and hardware
  • Assist with
    • Data Encryption
    • Hardware and device support
    • Provide File System Access

Architectures

  • 32-bit
  • 64-bit
    • Provides wider usage of faster CPUs and RAM
    • Can run 64-bit and 32-bit applications

Desktop Operating Systems

  • Three primary Laptop or Desktop Operating Systems
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • MacOS (Apple)

      File Systems (FS)

  • Each file system is dedicated to it’s Operating System
    • Windows uses NTFS
    • Linux uses a varying amount such as FAT32
    • MacOS uses APFS (Apple File System)

Mobile Operating Systems

  • Two Primary Mobile Operating Systems
    • iOS (Apple)
    • Android (Google)

Windows 10

  • Provided better support for Cloud and Account Synchronization.
  • Raised privacy concerns as they started collecting more information from keyboard, browsers, user behaviors with applications, etc.

Files and Directories

  • Program Files Folder contains the applications and programs for 64-bit applications.
  • Program Files (x86) Folder contains the applications and programs for 64-bit applications.
  • User folders are located under C:\Users\{username}\
  • C:\Windows\System32 contains Operating System specific information for the Windows Operating System. Modifying these files can have varying consequences.
  • Files or folders with the prefix “.” they are typically meant to be a private or hidden File or Folder. They typically contain temporary application storage

Configuration and Settings

  • Control Panel Unique system to windows which displays all the different configuration and settings that an be modified to meet the demand of the system, user, and applications being used.
  • Settings Specific to Windows 10+ which is the same as the legacy control panel but has a new layout and different configuration settings

MacOS

  • Much of the folders and files are much more intuitive through the user interface (UI) to provide support
    • Applications are located at \Applications
    • Users are located at \Users
    • etc.

Linux

  • Operating System has many different folder and file structures
  • Common Files and folders
    • \etc are important configuration files
    • \home is for the home directory and common directories
    • \var is for additional storage
    • \bin contains binary and application build files