System Software

Systems software includes the programs that are dedicated to managing the computer itself, such as the operating system, file management utilities, and disk operating system (or DOS). The operating system manages the computer hardware resources in addition to applications and data. Without systems software installed in our computers we would have to type the instructions for everything we wanted the computer to do! Example of System software

1. Operating System
2. Utility Software
3. Device Drivers
4. Language Programming

Operating System

An operating system (OS) is the program that, after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a computer. Users can interact directly with the operating system through a user interface such as a command line or a graphical user interface. All major computer platforms (hardware and software) require and sometimes include an operating system, and operating systems must be developed with different features to meet the specific needs of various form factors. For example windows, Dos, Unix, Linux, etc.

Utility Software

In computers, a utility is a small program that provides an addition to the capabilities provided by the operating system. In some usages, a utility is a special and nonessential part of the operating system. The print "utility" that comes with the operating system is an example. It's not absolutely required to run programs and, if it didn't come with the operating system, you could perhaps add it. In other usages, a utility is an application that is very specialized and relatively limited in capability. A good example is a search-and-replace utility. Some operating systems provide a limited capability to do a search-and-replace for given character strings. You can add a much more capable search-and-replace utility that runs as an application program. However, compared to a word processor, a search-and-replace utility has limited capability.

Device Drivers

A device driver is a program that controls a particular type of device that is attached to your computer. There are device drivers for printers, displays, CD-ROM readers, diskette drives, and so on. When you buy an operating system, many device drivers are built into the product.

Language Programming

A language processor is a software program designed or used to perform tasks, such as processing program code to machine code. Language processors are found in languages such as C, C++, JAVA, etc.