Q.State any four functions of an operating system.

The operating system is the master program that manages the whole computer, so its functions all relate to controlling resources and letting the user interact with the machine.

The operating system is the master control program that manages all the computer's hardware and software resources. Four of its main functions are:

1. Process management — it starts, runs, pauses, and stops the various programs and shares the CPU's time among them so that several tasks can run smoothly.

2. Memory management — it allocates memory (RAM) to each running program and reclaims it when the program finishes, keeping programs from interfering with one another.

3. File management — it organises data into files and folders and controls how files are created, saved, opened, copied, renamed, and deleted.

4. Providing a user interface — it gives the user a way to interact with the computer, through either a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of windows and icons or a Command Line Interface (CLI) of typed commands.

Other valid functions a student could mention include device (input/output) management through device drivers, and security and access control through user accounts and passwords.

Students sometimes list application-software tasks (like 'typing a document') as OS functions — the operating system's job is to MANAGE the computer's resources, not to perform a specific user task; keep each point about managing the machine.