A computer has an Operating System (OS).

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2023). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] (a) To hide the complexities of the hardware from the user To provide a platform for software to run To provide a user interface
2. [3] (b) Defragmentation software: because over time saving and deleting of small files fragments the disk, the software makes (individual) files contiguous, so access time to the files is improved, because head movement is reduced. Disk contents analysis/disk repair software: to identify and mark bad sectors, to restore corrupted files, to recover lost data (due to hardware failure). File compression: to reduce the size of files, which saves storage and memory space // by example, and reduces transmission time // by example. Disk formatter: to prepare a disk for use // set up the file system, to partition the disc, to delete all the data from the disc.
3. [1] (c)(i) USB / Universal Serial Bus HDMI
4. [3] (c)(ii) Buffers: A buffer temporarily holds data until it is ready to be transmitted to the device. Address Bus: The address of the data to be written to the device (in RAM) is carried on the address bus. Data Bus: All data to be written to the device / buffer is carried on the data bus.