and Operating Systems Essentials 100%
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software that is created for free use by everyone -correct answer open source
source code that is highly protected and only available to trusted employees and
carefully vetted contractors -correct answer closed source
A visual display on a computer's screen that allows you to interact with your
computer more easily by clicking graphical elements -correct answer Graphical User
Interface (GUI)
a group of two or more computer systems linked together -correct answer network
when the operating system processes the taks assigned a higher priority before
processing a task that has been assigned a lower priority -correct answer Cooperative
multitasking
, D386 (latest update 2025-2026) Hardware
and Operating Systems Essentials 100%
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WGU
allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently -correct answer
Multithreading
involves the use of interrupt to exchange data between I/O and memory -correct
answer Interupt-Driven I/O
the processor issues an I/O command, on behalf of a process, to an I/O module; that
process then busy waits for the operation to be completed before proceeding -
correct answer programmed I/O
When a device controller transfers an entire block of data from its own buffer storage
to memory without CPU intervention -correct answer Direct memory Access (DMA)
What is one reason why programmed I/O does not work well when the I/O does not
work well when the I/O device is a hard disk or a graphics display? -correct answer
slowness
, D386 (latest update 2025-2026) Hardware
and Operating Systems Essentials 100%
Verified Questions & Answers [Grade A] -
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the basic process performed by the CPU. On each cycle the CPU fetches the next
instruction from RAM, interprets it and executes it. -correct answer Fetch-Execute
Cycle
short for microprocessor or CPU -correct answer processor
core registers-usually a few hundred or less storage locations -correct answer Level 0
cache
memory on the processor die used as a cache to improve processor performance -
correct answer Level 1 cache
Memory in the processor package but not on the processor die. The memory is used
as a cache or buffer to improve processor performance -correct answer Level 2 Cache
, D386 (latest update 2025-2026) Hardware
and Operating Systems Essentials 100%
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cache memory further from the processor core than level 2 but still in the processor
package -correct answer Level 3 Cache
is shared dynamically between the on-die graphics processor unit (GPU) and CPU. The
L4 cache acts as an overflow cache for L3. Information evicted from L3 dumped into
L4 -correct answer Level 4 cache
An older processor that first used the number 86 in the model number and processes
32 bits at a time -correct answer x86 processors
hybrid processor that is capable of processing 32 bits and 64 bits -correct answer
x86-64 processors
There are two separate modes: monitor mode (also called system mode and kernal
mode) and user mode.