Systems Software

This is software designed to operate and control computer hardware, and allow the running of applications.

Operating Systems
The operating system allows parts of a computer to work together, it is a front interface that you see when you boot a computer. Examples of an Operating system are Windows, Mac OS and various different Linux Distributions. The operating systems allows tasks such as rendering output onto a monitor or other display device. The Kernel is the core part of an Operating System that defines an API, a way in which a program needs to be written, this means that programs have to follow that Kernel in order to be able to be run on said Operating Systems.

Utility Software
This is any software that helps run or maintain the running of a computer. Utility programs can also help analyse any problems with a computer and find the best way to fix it. An example of utility software is anti-virus, it scans your computer and analyses every file to make sure it is not harmful to your computer in any way. Older monitors such as CRT monitors used screen savers as utility software, the CRT would burn in whatever was on the screen for too long, a screen saver would prevent this happening by constantly changing.

Library Programs
This is a collection of software, programs, code, configurations and more that can be used to help develop other software, if you wanted to develop a program you could use other peoples code from the library to help overcome a problem or to complete the same task at your end.

Translator Programs
Translators in computing are used to convert code from one language to another, this could mean changing the code from C++ to machine code. Translating the code means the computer can understand it better, these programs are also known as compilers, interpreters, de-compilers, assemblers and de-assemblers.