Computing Fundamentals
Computer Software

WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF THE
COMPUTER SYSTEM?
Hardware
User
Software

What is software?
• It is a set of programs that reside within the
computer that tells the computer how to operate

• Example of Software

Are all software the same?

What are the types of software?
1. System Software
- software for managing computer hardware
2. Application Software
-can perform a specific task for the user
3. Programming Software
is for computer programmers and developers
who are writing code

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

• Systems Software
– It directs all the activities and sets all the
rules for how the hardware and software will
work together
– Includes the operating system and all the
utilities that enable the computer to function.

SYSTEM SOFTWARE Function EXAMPLES
Operating System organize and control
both the hardware and
software to perform
specific tasks
Windows, Android, iOS,
Linux, Mac OS
Device driver Enables hard device
communication with the
OS and other programs
Drivers for keyboard,
mouse, sound card,
printer, & etc.
Firmware Firmware is the
operational software
embedded within a flash
drive, ROM, or EPROM
memory chip for the
operating system to
identify it.
BIOS, remote control
Utilities Ensures optimum
functionality of devices
and applications.
Antivirus, Disk
Defragmentation,
Diagnostic Software

OPERATING SYSTEM
An operating system is system software that
handles computer memory, software and
hardware resources, and processes, while
providing common services and programming
interfaces for computer programs.

WINDOWS OS
Microsoft Windows, also called Windows and Windows OS, computer operating system
(OS) developed by Microsoft Corporation to run personal computers (PCs). Featuring
the first graphical user interface (GUI) for IBM-compatible PCs, the Windows OS soon
dominated the PC market. Approximately 90 percent of PCs run some version of
Windows.

MAC OS
The Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS) is an operating system (OS) designed
by Apple Inc. to be installed and operated on the Apple Macintosh series of
computers. Introduced in 1984, it is a graphical user interface (GUI) based OS that
has since been released as multiple different versions

LINUX
Linux is the best-known and most-used open-source operating
system
Pixel.
Ubuntu 16.10 or
16.04.
openSUSE.
SteamOS.
Linux Mint 18.1.
Elementary OS.
Arch Linux.
Recalbox. Edubuntu

ANDROID
Android is a mobile operating system developed by
Google. It is used by several smartphones and tablets
Cupcake Android 10

DEVICE DRIVER
A device driver is a program that lets the operating system
communicate with specific computer hardware
Computer parts need a driver because they do not use
standard commands. For example, video cards from
Advanced Micro Devices (or AMD) and Nvidia do the same
job, but each requires its own driver as different hardware
requires different commands. Different operating systems
also need different drivers, a driver written for macOS can
not be used by Microsoft Windows.

FIRMWARE firmware is a computer program that is
"embedded" in a hardware device and is an
essential part of the hardware. It is
sometimes called embedded software

UTILITIES SOFTWARE In computing, a "utility" is a
program[1][2][3] or module which is used
to give a general-purpose result, for many
different uses. A utility is intended for a
wide range of users, rather than an "app"
(application program) which might be
intended to serve a specific purpose for
specific users

• Applications Software
• Includes programs that do real work for users, such as, word
processors, spreadsheets, and database management
systems.

Application SOFTWARE Function Examples
Office Suite is a collection of software created by the same vendor and
designed to be used for routine tasks within an organization
Microsoft Office, Libre Office,
Google G-Suite
Internet Browser is an interface that helps a computer user gain access to all
the content that is on the Internet
Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari,
Opera
Media Player software that can play more than one type of media
(multimedia). Media players can usually play both audio
(sound) and video files
VLC, Windows Media Player
Presentation is a computer software package used to display information,
normally in the form of a slide show
Microsoft PowerPoint
Word Processor is a computer program (often a text editor) or a special
computer intended to edit texts with colours and different
sizes and styles, or texts which will be printed.
Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org
Writer, Word Pad, Google Docs
Portable Document Format
(PDF) Reader
PDF is often used to make documents print-ready Adobe Acrobat Reader, Foxit
Reader
Spreadsheets The primary reason most people use spreadsheets is for
automatic calculations
Microsoft Excel, Google
Spreadsheet
Accounting is a computer program that assists accountants in recording
and reporting a firm's financial transactions
Pastel, Quickbooks
Gaming Interactive software that is used for entertainment, role
and simulation.
Counter Strike, League of
Designing and Graphics Software that were used for editing and sharing digital
creating logos, drawing and modifying clip art, creating
fine art, creating web graphics, designing advertisements and
product packaging, touching up scanned photos, and
maps or other diagrams.
Adobe Photoshop, AutoCad

OFFICE SUITE

INTERNET BROWSER/ WEB BROWSER

MEDIA PLAYER

PRESENTATION

WORD PROCESSOR
Libre Office Writer

PDF

SPREADSHEET

ACCOUNTING

GAMING

DESIGN AND GRAPHICS

PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE