Managing Resources: Programs that manage the resources of a computer such as the printer, mouse, keyboard, memory and monitor. Providing User Interface: Graphical user interface (GUI) is something developers create to allow users to easily click something without having to understand how or why they clicked an icon. Each icon on a desktop represents code linking to the spot in which the icon represents. It makes it very easy for uneducated users. Running Applications, is the ability to run an application such as Word processor by locating it and loading it into the primary memory. Most operating systems can multitask by running many applications at once. Support for built-in Utility Programs: This is the program that find and fixes errors in the operating system. Control Computer Hardware: All programs that need computer hardware must go through the operating system which can be accessed through the BIOS (basic input output system) or the device drivers.
An operating system has three main functions: (1) manage the computer's resources, such as the central processing unit, memory, disk drives, and printers, (2) establish a user interface, and (3) execute and provide services for applications software.