Unit 4: Operating Systems - Practice Quiz

1 What is an operating system?

2 Which of the following is an example of an operating system?

3 The operating system is loaded into memory during which process?

4 What is one of the main purposes of an operating system?

5 Which of the following is NOT a purpose of an operating system?

6 The operating system helps in the efficient use of which resource?

7 An operating system that allows multiple users to access the computer at the same time is called a?

8 Which type of operating system processes jobs in groups without user interaction during execution?

9 An operating system used in devices that require immediate response, like medical or industrial systems, is a?

10 Which type of OS allows a single user to run multiple programs at the same time?

11 A user interface that uses icons, windows, and a mouse is called a?

12 In which type of interface does the user type text commands to interact with the computer?

13 What does GUI stand for?

14 When you open an application, the operating system loads it into which part of the computer to run it?

15 A program that is currently running or being executed is known as a?

16 The ability of an operating system to run several programs at once is called?

17 The feature that lets you move data between programs by copying from one and pasting into another is supported by the?

18 Which OS feature allows different users on a network to access the same files?

19 A small program that lets the operating system communicate with a hardware device is called a?

20 Which of the following is an example of utility software?

21 A user turns on a computer and notices that programs, hardware, and files all become accessible through a single coordinating layer of software. Which characteristic of an operating system does this best illustrate?

22 Two applications request to use the printer at the same time. The OS queues one request while the other prints. Which core purpose of an operating system is demonstrated here?

23 An airline ticketing system must respond to input within strict, guaranteed time limits or the process fails. Which type of operating system is most appropriate?

24 A company runs payroll by collecting all employee data and processing it together overnight without user interaction. Which type of OS matches this workflow?

25 A network administrator prefers typing commands to configure servers quickly rather than clicking through windows. Which type of user interface is the administrator using?

26 In a graphical user interface, a user drags a file icon onto a folder icon to move it. This interaction style is best described as which of the following?

27 When you double-click an application, the OS loads its instructions from disk into main memory before execution begins. What is this activity primarily called?

28 A user runs a web browser, a music player, and a word processor at once on a modern OS, and all appear to run simultaneously on a single CPU. Which OS capability makes this possible?

29 A program stops responding, and the user opens a system tool to force it to close without restarting the computer. Which OS function is being used?

30 A user copies text from a spreadsheet and pastes it into a word processor. Which OS feature enables this transfer of data between applications?

31 Several users on a network need to access the same folder of documents stored on one server. Which OS feature makes this controlled shared access possible?

32 After installing a new printer, the OS needs a small piece of software to communicate correctly with it. What is this software called?

33 A running program has more data than fits in RAM, so the OS temporarily moves some data to disk to free up memory. What is this technique called?

34 When a keyboard key is pressed, the hardware signals the CPU, which pauses its current task to handle the input. What mechanism is the OS using here?

35 A hard drive has become slow because files are scattered in noncontiguous pieces. Which utility program would most directly improve performance?

36 A user wants to reduce the size of a large folder before emailing it. Which type of utility software is most appropriate?

37 A company wants automatic protection that detects and removes malicious software before it damages files. Which utility should they install?

38 A smartwatch runs a compact OS built into the device with limited resources dedicated to specific functions. Which type of operating system is this?

39 A user relies on the OS to organize files into folders, name them, and control where they are saved on disk. Which OS purpose does this describe?

40 When a computer is switched on, a small program loads the core of the operating system into memory so the machine becomes usable. This start-up process is best known as which of the following?

41 A system boots and the bootloader loads the kernel into memory. Which sequence correctly describes what must happen before user applications can be launched?

42 Two applications simultaneously request the printer. The OS queues one and lets the other proceed. This behavior most directly demonstrates which core purpose of the OS?

43 An air-traffic collision-avoidance system must guarantee that a response is produced within a strict deadline, and missing that deadline is considered a system failure. Which OS type is required?

44 A process makes a system call to read from disk and is moved off the CPU while the I/O completes. Which state transition best describes this?

45 Why does modern hardware provide two CPU privilege modes (user mode and kernel mode) rather than running everything in one mode?

46 A power user automates a nightly backup that must run without human presence and adapt using conditional logic. Which interface characteristic makes a command-line/shell interface preferable to a GUI here?

47 Two cooperating processes exchange data through a shared memory region. What must the OS or the programmer additionally provide to prevent inconsistent reads and writes?

48 A program references a virtual address whose page is not currently in RAM. What mechanism does the OS use to handle this so the program continues correctly?

49 A cluster of networked computers presents itself to users as a single coherent machine, coordinating processes across nodes transparently. This best describes which type of OS?

50 After long use, a mechanical hard disk shows slower file access because files are stored in non-contiguous blocks. Which utility directly addresses this, and why is it unnecessary on SSDs?

51 Under a preemptive scheduler, a process with a lower priority is repeatedly bypassed by higher-priority processes and never gets CPU time. What is this condition called, and what technique commonly resolves it?

52 Compared with polling, why do modern operating systems prefer interrupt-driven I/O for handling device events?

53 An OS exposes a consistent open()/read()/write() interface so a program can access a file the same way regardless of whether it lives on an SSD, USB drive, or network share. This illustrates which OS role?

54 A single-core CPU appears to run many programs "at the same time." What is actually happening at the hardware level?

55 A web server process and a logging process on the same machine must exchange a continuous stream of bytes, where the writer may run faster than the reader. Which IPC mechanism naturally provides buffered, unidirectional streaming with flow control?

56 A mainframe collects large numbers of jobs, groups similar ones, and executes them without user interaction to maximize throughput. Which OS type is this, and what is its main user-experience drawback?

57 Four processes each hold one resource and each waits for a resource held by another, forming a cycle. No process can proceed. Which set of conditions is fully present here?

58 A user notices constant disk activity and severe slowdown while many applications are open, though the CPU is mostly idle waiting on I/O. Which OS-level phenomenon does a system-monitor utility most likely reveal?

59 In a typical modern OS, why is the GUI implemented largely in user space rather than entirely inside the kernel?

60 Consider the claim: "A microkernel is inherently faster than a monolithic kernel." Why is this generally false?