Which term describes the operating system function that decides where in main memory each program and its data will be stored?
Memory management
What is meant by 'virtual memory'?
A section of secondary storage used as an extension of RAM when RAM is full
What is the name for the technique of dividing main memory into fixed-size blocks so that processes can be swapped between RAM and secondary storage?
Paging
What is meant by 'multi-tasking'?
The operating system manages several tasks at the same time and decides which process runs on the CPU and for how long
Which term describes a program that has been loaded into main memory and is being executed by the CPU?
Process
What is meant by a 'page'?
A fixed-size block of memory used when the operating system swaps processes between RAM and secondary storage
When a program is loaded into main memory, what else is copied in with it?
The data that the program is using
Why does the operating system keep a record of where each program and its data are stored in main memory?
To stop existing programs and data being overwritten
A computer is running a web browser, a music player and a messaging app at the same time. How does the operating system manage memory for these tasks?
It allocates space in main memory to each task
When main memory is full, where does the operating system store pages that are not currently needed?
In secondary storage
A page belonging to a process is currently stored in virtual memory. What happens when that process is next given time on the CPU?
The page is swapped back into main memory
Why must the operating system load a program into main memory before the CPU can execute it?
The CPU can only fetch instructions that are held in main memory
What happens to the programs and data held in main memory when the computer is switched off?
They are lost because main memory is volatile
A student opens a video editor, a word processor and a spreadsheet on a computer with 4 GB of RAM. The video editor needs more memory than is available. What will the operating system do?
Move pages of other programs into secondary storage
A program that was running is closed by the user. What happens to the main memory it was using?
It becomes free and can be allocated to another program
A computer is running slowly because it is relying heavily on virtual memory. Why does this slow the computer down?
Secondary storage is much slower to read from and write to than main memory
A computer with more main memory can run more programs at the same time before it starts to slow down. Why?
More programs and their data fit in main memory at once
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