Computer is a dumb machine. It cannot perform any task by its own.

It has to be guided for the task provided to it & that guidance should be in such a language which is understood by the computer. Such a set of instruction which is in the language understood by the computer is called a computer program. It controls the processing related task. Computer software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. It is a set of computer programs, procedure, and related document. Most people think that a computer can be divided into two parts. 1) Computer hardware: - it does all of the physical work computers are known for. 2) Computer software: - it tells the hardware what to do and how to do it. If we imagine computer as a living being, then the hardware would be the body that does things like seeing with eyes, lifting objects, and filling the lungs with air; the software would be the intelligence, interpreting the images that come through the eyes, telling the arms how to lift objects, and forcing the body to fill the lungs with air. Users: - user normally interact with the system via the user interfaces Application software:- Software that do a specific System software:- software that task Types of software constitute Hardware (Physical devices/ Component of the computer sys) The operating & programming environment of the computer system. Or solve a specific problem provided by the application software

Software can be divided into 2 types:1) System software 2) Application software

System software:-

System software is computer software designed to operate the computer hardware and to provide a platform for running software. Basically the system software perform the following task:i) Support other application software ii) Support the execution of other application software iii) Monitor the use of hardware parts like CPU, printer, etc Basic types of system software are:The computer BIOS and device firmware, which are provide basic functionality to operate and control the hardware connected to or built into the computer. The operating system ( Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux), which allows the parts of a computer to work together by performing tasks like transferring data between memory and disks or converts output onto a display device. It also provides a platform to run high-level system software and application software.

Application software:Application software is a computer software designed to

help the user to perform specific tasks. It is a set of one or more programs designed to solve a specific problem. For example examination result processing software, railway/airline reservation software, computer gaming software, video mixing software is all application software. The programs included in an application software package are called application programs. The person who prepares application software is known as application programmers. There are millions of application software available in market for word processing , inventory management, weather forecasting, space shuttle launching software, oil and natural gas exploration. Some common application softwares are:i) Word processing software :-

This software enables us to use computer for editing, creating, viewing, formatting, storing, printing documents such as letter, books, report, etc.
ii) Spreadsheet software :-

It is a software which provides the facility to solve typical arithmetical and logical problems
iii) DTP:-

Those software comes under it which helps the user in publishing purpose. Several software comes under it .like photoshop,pagemaker,mr photo.

System management program:As the name says it is responsible for the management and accurate functioning of the computer system. More than one programs come under it which does the following work:a) Manage the operation of the processor b) Control the input output c) Manage storage resources
d) Provide support to the system

These software are available in the market as operating system, device driver and system utilities 1) Operating system:a) Most important type of system software

b) Responsible for performing various task:i) ii) iii) iv) Recognising input from the keyboard Sending output to the monitor Keeping track of files and folder located on hdd Control peripheral devices like printer and modem

The example of an operating system are:- ms- dos, MS windows 98/me/xp/7/linux 2) Device driver:a) System program responsible for proper functioning of the device b) Every device or hardware has a driver program for support. Ex:printer c) Whenever the device is attached to the computer it has to be installed.
d) In modern OS most of the hardware driver is inbuilt. But some

special devices driver software needs to be installed.

e) It acts like a translator between device and system. 3) System utility:-

a) Perform day to day task related to the maintenance of the computer system.
b) It enhances the performance of the computer system.

c) Some popular function of system utility includes:i)

Backup:- sometimes data gets corrupted and their is a danger of losing important data. At that time data backup become very useful. Data recovery:- as the name says it is used to recover the lost data. Sometimes due to hardware failure or failure of a disk drive there is a chance of losing data. At that time this is very useful. Disk management:- disk cleanup, disk defragment, formatting disk tool. Etc comes under it this small software comes under disk management. This not only increase the efficiency but also

ii)

iii)